As expected, the Ministry of Petroleum has approved the deregulation of the CNG market and station owners will now be able to set their own prices.
The ministry has already issued a notice to CNG owners, stating that prices are no longer regulated by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority’s (OGRA) and the CNG station owners are free to decide and set their own prices.
The prices will now be recommended by the CNG Dealers Association of Pakistan, though, the CNG owners will still be able to set their own prices since the association isn’t a regulatory authority.
Chairman of the CNGÂ Association, Abdul Sami Khan, said that CNG is currently being sold at a loss. This is probably due to the use of LNG instead of natural gas. According to the chairman, the price increase will be minimal so that CNG prices still remain below that of Petrol prices in the country.
The CNG Association has also announced that the new prices will be revealed to the public very soon.
It still has to be seen whether people would be willing to use CNG after the less than adequate performance of the fuel ever since stations were allowed to resume sale of CNG. Petrol prices however, have increased slightly since the introduction of higher RON petrol.
The market share of CNG might not be the same anymore after considering the price to performance ratio between the new high quality petrol and the LNG.
The deregulation should also follow by anti price fixing measures so that the market can flourish as well as compete on quality.
Doesn’t matter anymore, most have already shifted back to petrol.