KARACHI: The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) on Thursday notified a reduction in prices of re-gasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) for May 2020.
The oil and gas regulator set the new price at $7.5105 per million British thermal units (mmbtu) for Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) consumers, down 22 percent from $9.5834/mmbtu in April 2020.
For Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) consumers, the new price is fixed at $7.7521 per million British thermal units (mmbtu), down 19 percent from $9.5582/mmbtu in April 2020.
The cost of RLNG at the transmission stage has been computed by Ogra at $6.7650/mmbtu for SNGPL. The authority has allowed SNGPL to charge extra $0.7455 per unit at the distribution stage.
Similarly, she cost of RLNG at the transmission stage has been computed by the regulator at $6.3748/mmbtu for SSGC. The authority has allowed SSGC collection of additional $1.3773/mmbtu at the distribution stage.
These prices also include LNG terminal charges, transmission losses, port charges and margins of importers i.e. Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and Pakistan LNG Limited.
The new weighted average sale prices of RLNG have been computed based on the eight cargoes imported in the month including six cargoes by PSO and two by Pakistan LNG.
With economies worldwide grinding to a halt as virus-containment measures take their toll, oil is not the only fossil fuel to have suffered a steep decline in prices.
Demand from the world’s biggest buyers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) has plunged, dragging Asia’s spot prices to record lows and forcing some suppliers to start cutting output. Asia’s spot LNG prices dropped to $1.85 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) last week, the lowest ever, as cargoes have flooded the market.
Since RLNG has been the second major contributor to power generation after hydel resources, with the decrease in RLNG prices, the cost of energy also goes down, which is charged from consumers.