Domestic gas prices should not exceed $5 per MMBTU: Minister

Industry Minister Fahmi Idris said the domestic price of gas should not be raised in excess of US$5 per mmbtu if the competitive edge of domestic industries was to be maintained.

"A price between 3 and 5 US dollars per mmbtu will still be within the reach of various industries for their production but a price exceeding the 5-dollar level will reduce their competitive edge," the minister said on the sidelines of an interior design and craft exhibition here on Wednesday as quoted by Antara news agency.

He said the development of gas at home needed a special formula so that its price in the domestic market could be kept at a fair level in order to maintain the competitiveness of national industries.

He said that Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and natural gas production-sharing contractors needed to adopt a new approach where gas price could be fixed at a certain level that would support a competitive development of industries.

The minister said without a special formula and new approach, the domestic price of gas would continue to fluctuate and this would weaken cosmetics industries` competitiveness.(*)