By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority notified a 19-22% increase in regasified liquefied natural gas prices at the distribution stage for the two Sui companies in March, the biggest monthly jump since October, just days after the government raised petroleum product prices by Rs55.
The surge stems primarily from higher terminal charges, a modest rise in the delivered ex-ship price and reduced import volumes, according to data in Ogra’s notification issued on Thursday. Only two LNG cargoes were available for the month’s basket price, down from eight each in February 2026 and March 2025, after Qatar declared force majeure on its facilities following an attack and amid the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
For the Lahore-based Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd., which supplies Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the RLNG sale price at the transmission stage rose 19.3% to $12.49 per million British thermal units from $10.47 in February. At the distribution stage, it climbed 19.6% to $13.55 per mmBtu from $11.335. That compares with $11.27 in January 2026, $11.83 in December 2025 and $12.24 in November.
Sui Southern Gas Co., serving Sindh and Balochistan from its Karachi headquarters, saw steeper increases. The transmission-stage price jumped 22% to $11.12 per mmBtu from $9.03 in February. At distribution, it rose 22% to $12.54 per mmBtu from $10.27. Earlier readings were $10.21 in January, $10.77 in December and $11.01 in November.
The authority attributed the across-the-board rise to “an increase in the delivered ex-ship price, import-related cost and terminal charges.” The move reverses two straight months of declines — 6% in December and 5% in January — after a negligible 0.5% gain in February and cumulative 4.4% increases in October and November.
System losses at the distribution stage have also climbed. SNGPL’s unaccounted-for gas stood at almost 9%, up from 7.47% in October. SSGCL’s losses reached 12.55%, compared with 10.6% a couple of months earlier. The authority’s data show unaccounted-for gas for both utilities has risen since January.
Even with the lower import volumes, the final distribution prices remain well above the underlying delivered ex-ship cost. SSGCL’s $12.54 per mmBtu is about $3.3 higher than average DES; SNGPL’s $13.55 is $4.25 above. That gap reflects profit margins and retainage charged by importers Pakistan State Oil and Pakistan LNG Ltd., plus the companies’ own losses of 8.97% for SNGPL and 12.55% for SSGCL — a combined 3.77% markup on top of the DES price, the data indicate.
The two March cargoes, both under Pakistan State Oil’s long-term contracts with Qatar Gas, averaged about $7.68 per mmBtu DES. That is a modest increase from $7.45 the previous month but still below $8.9 in March 2025. One cargo was priced at $8.72 per mmBtu and the other at $6.65. Earlier monthly DES averages were $7.52 in January, $7.87 in December and $8.15 in November.
Pakistan LNG Ltd. imported no cargoes for March. The company, set up nearly a decade ago to diversify LNG supplies, brought in just one shipment a couple of months ago — its first in almost a year — at $7.65 per mmBtu under an old private-sector contract.
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