Pakistan Unveils Comprehensive Plan to Revamp LPG Market
The Pakistani government has been facing criticism for its handling of the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) market, which is essential for millions of households and businesses beyond the natural gas network. The public debate often focuses on monthly price notifications, but experts argue that this approach does not address the underlying structural issues in the market.
A policy reset is needed to make LPG affordable, reliable, and safe throughout the year. This requires rationalizing prices, disciplining imports, replacing speculative licensing with corporate accountability, building strategic storage, and tracing the product from entry to cylinder through technological developments.
The Prime Minister should direct a time-bound LPG Market Reform Programme, led by the Minister for Petroleum and jointly delivered by several government agencies. The programme should focus on creating one transparent pricing framework, curbing indiscriminate growth of small storage and filling plants, building strategic storage at terminals and key inland hubs, locking in imports through a government-supported supply plan, and moving from roughly 500 fragmented entities to about 40 accountable operators.
The programme should also prioritize making cylinder and supply-chain safety non-negotiable. This includes approved design, manufacturer identification, digital serialisation, periodic testing, recall, and verified destruction of condemned stock.