With the central government set to hike the price of domestically produced natural gas, the retail prices of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and residential Piped Natural Gas (PNG) will also go up. The price hike is estimated at 3-4%.

From the existing $2.89, the price of domestic gas is expected to go up to a two-year high of $3.06 per Million Metric British Thermal Unit (MMBTU) from April 1. The revision is a part of the pricing formula to revisit domestic gas prices every six months based on the average price of key gas trading hubs with a lag of one quarter.

Retail selling price of CNG and PNG had gone up by 5-7% from October 2017 the wake of the hike in domestic gas from $2.48 per MMBTU for the previous six-month period. Industry experts said that CNG and PNG prices could up by 3-4% because of the expected upward revision in gas prices.

"City gas distribution companies will pass on the hike in input cost to the consumers. The revision can be expected in the range of 3-4%," said an industry official. In Ahmedabad and Vadodara, CNG presently retails at Rs47.80 per kilo. This could go up to around Rs49.50 when the next revision is announced. Similarly, domestic PNG price is Rs560.65 per cubic metre, which is likely to be revised to Rs580 per cubic mere.

In other districts of Gujarat, CNG price is Rs47.50 per kilo, which could rise to Rs49, while domestic PNG could go up from Rs604 per MMBTU to Rs620-625 per MMBTU.

Industry players said that even after the hike both CNG and PNG would still be significantly cheaper than petrol and LPG respectively

The expected increase in domestic gas price would be the second straight six-month period when the prices would be revised upwards. Before the hike for the October-March period, gas prices had fallen for five straight times, to decline by more than 50% from $5.05 per MMBTU in November 2014 to $2.48 in April 2017.