Anisul Islam Noor :
The price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) decreased in the global markets in last years, but there was no favorable impact in the local market.
But taking the advantage of mismanagement and lack of supervision, a syndicate earned Tk 40 crore from 20 lakh LPG cylinders every month.
The price of main component of LP gas propane and butylenes have decreased from $ 1000 to $ 400 in last two years. It is the by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining. But people of the country are not getting benefits of this price fall.
At present LP gas cylinder weighing 12 kg sells in the local markets at Tk 900 to Tk 1050. Though its actual price is around Tk700. The syndicate business are taking additional money per month.
The LPG price dropped by more than 60 percent in the international market since February 2014 due to less demand and rising output. LPG is imported by Asia mainly from different Middle East countries.
Currently, the government is considering price reductions of petroleum products in the domestic market even though the price of these products slumped to a one year-low in the international market.
But the LPG importers and dealers in the country are charging the consumers extortionately high prices, cashing in absence of market monitoring and control instituted by the government.
Along with, the low-cost LPG supplied by the state-run producers has failed to play any role to keep the market under control due to manipulations by the dealers and distributors.
But finally they did not consider it. The BERC announced that the monthly bill for single gas burners will be Tk 600 and double burners Tk 650.
The BERC boss said that it might take the necessary regulatory actions if the authorities concerned or any of the stakeholders in the LPG sector requested the Commission to rationalise the price.
The cylinders are available from several sources. These are state-owned LP Gas Limited TOTALGAZ Bangladesh, Bashundhara LP Gas Ltd, Jamuna Spacetech Joint Venture Ltd, Petredec Elpiji Ltd, BM Energy Ltd and Omera Petroleum Ltd.
Plant gate prices of 12kg LPG cylinder of Petragaz, TOTALGAZ, Bashundhara, BM Energy, Omera and Jamuna is now on an average Tk1,030.
The gap between price at the LPG plant gate and the retail level is Tk100 to Tk120 due to transport cost and profit of distributors and retailers.
The state-owned LP Gas Limited, a subsidiary of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), is supposed to sell cylinders at the government-fixed rate of Tk700. But consumers allege that they hardly see a cylinder of the company in the market.
The price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) decreased in the global markets in last years, but there was no favorable impact in the local market.
But taking the advantage of mismanagement and lack of supervision, a syndicate earned Tk 40 crore from 20 lakh LPG cylinders every month.
The price of main component of LP gas propane and butylenes have decreased from $ 1000 to $ 400 in last two years. It is the by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining. But people of the country are not getting benefits of this price fall.
At present LP gas cylinder weighing 12 kg sells in the local markets at Tk 900 to Tk 1050. Though its actual price is around Tk700. The syndicate business are taking additional money per month.
The LPG price dropped by more than 60 percent in the international market since February 2014 due to less demand and rising output. LPG is imported by Asia mainly from different Middle East countries.
Currently, the government is considering price reductions of petroleum products in the domestic market even though the price of these products slumped to a one year-low in the international market.
But the LPG importers and dealers in the country are charging the consumers extortionately high prices, cashing in absence of market monitoring and control instituted by the government.
Along with, the low-cost LPG supplied by the state-run producers has failed to play any role to keep the market under control due to manipulations by the dealers and distributors.
But finally they did not consider it. The BERC announced that the monthly bill for single gas burners will be Tk 600 and double burners Tk 650.
The BERC boss said that it might take the necessary regulatory actions if the authorities concerned or any of the stakeholders in the LPG sector requested the Commission to rationalise the price.
The cylinders are available from several sources. These are state-owned LP Gas Limited TOTALGAZ Bangladesh, Bashundhara LP Gas Ltd, Jamuna Spacetech Joint Venture Ltd, Petredec Elpiji Ltd, BM Energy Ltd and Omera Petroleum Ltd.
Plant gate prices of 12kg LPG cylinder of Petragaz, TOTALGAZ, Bashundhara, BM Energy, Omera and Jamuna is now on an average Tk1,030.
The gap between price at the LPG plant gate and the retail level is Tk100 to Tk120 due to transport cost and profit of distributors and retailers.
The state-owned LP Gas Limited, a subsidiary of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), is supposed to sell cylinders at the government-fixed rate of Tk700. But consumers allege that they hardly see a cylinder of the company in the market.
