The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority has again banned the import of CNG cylinders from 12 suppliers, including Faber and EKC, which supply CNG kits to Pak Suzuki Motor Company and Indus Motor Company, respectively.

Officials said that the ban leaves only four approved suppliers on OGRA’s list. OGRA earlier banned Faber in February, 2011, on safety concerns, but the decision was later reversed.

As was the case last time around, the market expects OGRA to reverse its decision going forward.

The automakers may have to cut production until the time OGRA reconsiders its decision.

Mr Mohammad Saquib an analyst at KASB Securities said that this put Pak Suzuki’s production volumes at risk as CNG variants account for two thirds of its vehicles. He added that “Also, this could affect supply of CNG variants of Mehran and Bolan under the Punjab government taxi scheme which is supposed to start in a couple of months.”

The effect should be lower for Indus Motor as it has recently introduced CNG variants of its Corolla that has not gained any significant chunk of its production volumes as yet, while Cuore constitutes 10 to 12% of its volumes.

(Sourced from www.thenews.com.pk)