LPG sells at Rs 550 a kilo in Punjab despite Rs 280 rate

Liquefied petroleum gas is selling for Rs 550 to Rs 575 per kilogram across Punjab, including Lahore, against a notified rate of Rs 280 per kilogram, Express News reported on Thursday.

Citing an LPG distributor, the outlet said the trade had earned more than Rs 2.5 billion in profit over the past two weeks. It said the margin worked out at more than Rs 300 per kilogram, and put daily consumption in the province at between 7,000 and 7,500 kilograms.

Express News did not name the distributor or explain how the profit figure was calculated. The report carried no comment from the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority or the petroleum division.

Shopkeepers told the outlet that paramilitary forces and other agencies had taken action against retail sellers, but that Ogra had so far not proceeded against the owners of LPG plants. Plants were charging above Rs 525 per kilogram, the shopkeepers said, leaving retailers no way to sell at the official rate.

The report said gas was not available at the notified price anywhere in the province.

LPG is used for cooking by households and small businesses that are not connected to piped gas, which makes the gap between the notified and market rate a direct cost for consumers. The difference is felt most in winter, when demand for cylinders rises.

Ogra fixes the maximum retail price of LPG each month, but enforcement has long been a complaint of consumer groups, who say the regulated price is routinely exceeded in the open market.

Express News published the LPG report alongside several unrelated items in the same file, including a Lahore High Court ruling on medical and dental council appointments, penalties on mobile and internet companies, revised bank cash transaction reporting rules, and the sentencing of Eman Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha to 13 years each in the barrier removal and interference in state affairs case. It was not clear whether the LPG figures were gathered over a specific survey period.