ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Senate on Thursday passed the Weighted Average Cost of Gas (WACOG) Bill which, the Federal Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar said, is a historic and long pending reform that will ensure the energy security of Pakistan.
Earlier last month, Hammad Azhar said that government would introduce a bill in the Parliament within next few days for Weighted Average Cost of (both local and imported) Gas (WACOG) under which average gas prices were estimated to go up by 30 percent gradually over the next few years.
In a statement on Twitter following the passage of the bill in the Senate, Hammad Azhar said that we are now able to embark upon the reform of the gas pricing structure, remove anomalies, and enhance supplies of imported gas.
The minister said that this reform is as significant as the approval of the Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP) model for power purchase a couple of months ago.
Hammad Azhar said that both historic reforms in the Power and Petroleum Sector have been carried out by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in the last six months.
Separately, the Senate also unanimously passed Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Amendment) bill, 2022, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Second) Amendment Bill, 2022, and Allied Health Professionals Council Bill, 2022.
The bills were moved by the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan.
