ISLAMABAD, Feb 8: The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) on Friday hit back at the prime minister’s adviser on petroleum, Dr Asim Hussain, for his outburst against the regulator in parliament and said the adviser’s diatribe was part of a campaign aimed at condoning the inefficiencies and unreasonable losses of the gas utilities.

Dr Asim had criticised Ogra in the National Assembly on Thursday and requested parliamentarians to help abolish the ‘redundant’ regulator, otherwise the country would become bankrupt.

He said the government was paying a huge amount as subsidy to the gas sector and warned that if the trend continued the SNGPL and SSGCL would soon become insolvent.

In a written statement, a spokesman for Ogra made it clear that decisions regarding subsidy were an exclusive purview of the government and the authority had nothing to do with them.

Responding to allegations that the regulator allowed huge subsidies to consumers, he said Ogra functioned under the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority Ordinance 2002 wherein subsidy did not fall under its purview.

“Therefore, the impression that Ogra’s prescribed price fixing under the ordinance was forcing the government to bear the burden of huge subsidies was not true.”

The spokesman said Ogra determined the prescribed price for gas companies under the ordinance and approving the sale price for consumers was the domain of the federal government.

With regard to the issue of expenditure and revenue determination of the state-owned gas companies —the SNGPL and SSGCL — the Ogra spokesman said the two utilities had already gone to court against its decision. The matter was, therefore sub judice.

According to the spokesman, giving a bad name to Ogra and describing an active and effective regulatory institution of the state as redundant appeared to be part of a well-thought out campaign against the authority’s resistance to condoning gas companies’ inefficiency and failure to contain unaccounted for gas (UFG).

Ogra said it was performing its duties and functions in accordance with the provisions of the ordinance of 2002, and was fully conscious of the responsibility assigned to it, particularly to protect interest of investor, industry and consumers.