OGRA cuts RLNG price

KARACHI: Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has slashed the price of Re-gasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) for Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) by $0.20/mmbtu to $15.62/mmbtu and $16.91/mmbtu, respectively for the month April.

According to the revised price notified by OGRA, a total of eight RLNG cargoes were received out of which seven were received from Pakistan State Oil (PSO) while Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL) imported only one LNG cargo.

The authority also computed the total weighted average sale price of RLNG without GST for both gas utilities for April on a total of eight cargoes as per which the weighted average sale price for SNGPL stood at $14.36/mmbtu.

Meanwhile, the total weighted average sale price of RLNG without GST for SSGC was estimated at $14.02/mmbtu.

This price reduction would reduce the cost of power generation slightly from the imported RLNG, which might ease off prices for the customers of two gas utilities.

“Major customers of RLNG are power plants and few industries so it would provide a bit of relief,” Samiullah Tariq – head of research at Pak-Kuwait Investment Company said.

However, he said presently the issue was availability of RLNG for power generation to meet the demand in summer. These were long-term cargoes, and any spot cargo buying would cost country around $35/mmbtu, which would raise the average weighted price of RLNG, he added.