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PM sets up committee to review LPG policy reformsPakistan
The eight-member panel has one month to examine the Petroleum Division’s reform package, cylinder standards and the local LPG market.
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Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has formed an eight-member ministerial committee to review a proposed set of reforms for Pakistan’s liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sector, according to reports published on 31 October 2026. The committee will examine a reform package submitted by the Petroleum Division and submit a comprehensive report to the prime minister within one month.
The review was ordered after LPG marketing companies and dealers protested that the new framework was being finalised without adequate consultation with the industry. The committee is headed by the federal petroleum minister and includes the ministers for economic affairs and information, the prime minister’s adviser on interprovincial coordination, the special assistant on energy, the petroleum secretary, the director general for liquefied gases and the head of the Government Relations Unit.
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Under its terms of reference, the panel will review the proposed reforms in detail, examine cylinder standards and the structure of the local LPG market, and consider action against illegal cylinder sales. It will also review a proposed local LPG model before preparing a consolidated presentation for the prime minister. The Petroleum Division will provide secretarial support to the committee.
The proposals at the centre of the review would change how LPG is imported and priced in Pakistan. Under the plan, state-owned enterprises would enter the LPG import market and take a central role in setting monthly prices, while the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority would stop issuing monthly LPG price notifications. The state-owned enterprises named in the proposal include Pakistan State Oil, the Sui companies, the Pak-Arab Refinery Company and Pakistan LNG.
Monthly pricing would be retained, but it would be calculated on an import-parity model linked to Saudi Aramco rates and actual import expenses, according to a cabinet summary reported by Dawn. The proposal would also raise the margins of LPG marketing and importing firms from Rs35,000 to a minimum of Rs50,000 per tonne as an adjustment for inflation.
In addition, 10 per cent of domestically produced LPG would be allocated to state marketers at producer prices to supply remote areas, including Gilgit-Baltistan and other northern regions, while the remaining 90 per cent would be auctioned monthly to prequalified bottlers. The committee will assess whether these arrangements protect consumers in areas that are harder to reach.
The review comes at a time of severe pressure on household fuel prices. Reports put the market price of a standard 11.57kg LPG cylinder at between Rs6,000 and Rs7,200, compared with the regulator’s official benchmark of Rs3,296. Supply disruptions, including halted trade at the Iranian border and reduced shipments by sea, have been cited as factors behind the gap between notified prices and market rates.
For households that depend on LPG for cooking and heating, the committee’s findings will matter. Its report will help determine whether the proposed changes go ahead, are altered or are dropped, and how prices for an everyday fuel are decided in the months ahead. No final decision on the reform package has yet been reported, and the cabinet’s consideration of the proposals remains pending.
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