ISLAMABAD: The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) on Monday held a public hearing proceeding physically with virtual facilitation at Lahore on the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL)’s petition for review of its estimated revenue requirement/prescribed prices for fiscal year 2023-24.

The regulator conducted the public hearing at Lahore to provide the opportunity of hearing to consumers/general public and interested/affected persons. The final verdict on the petition shall be issued by the authority after considering the viewpoints of all stakeholders.

Under Rule 5 of Natural Gas Licensing Rules 2002, the Ógra is an independent regulatory authority in the mid and downstream petroleum sector. The determination of revenue requirements is one of the major regulatory functions of the Ógra. The regulator conducts public hearings in four provincial capitals to reach out to petitioners and the general public, seeking their viewpoints for a fair and just determination of the revenue requirements of Sui companies. “We also receive input in writing from all over before deciding the determine,” spokesman Ogra said.

As gas is a provincial subject, therefore, the Ogra holds public hearing in provinces as per demand of the stakeholders and the OGRA Ordinance, 2002. The authority had to face criticism for holding virtual public hearing during massive wave of pandemic/ Covid-19 outbreak throughout the country.

Now the authority holds the public hearing physically and virtually to maximise the participation in public hearings.

The petitioner (the SNGPL) projected a shortfall in its revenue requirement at Rs179,160 million, including Rs697 million on account of LPG Air-mix project for FY 2023-24 seeking increase in its average prescribed price by Rs506.35 per MMBTU effective July 01, 2023, including the cost of RLNG diverted molecules to domestic consumers, as part of cost of gas in the light of the decision of federal cabinet dated 30-10-2023.

The petitioner has also included Rs427,830 million against previous years shortfall, thereby, seeking total average prescribed Rs2,961.98/MMBTU with effect from 1st July 2023 to compensate for the increase in cost of gas/RLNG and other components of the petition.

Besides above, the petitioner has estimated RLNG cost of service at Rs72,160 million (i.e. 293.07/MMBTU) for financial year 2023-24.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023