The federal government has paid more than Rs 29.7 billion to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on account of natural gas royalty and the Gas Development Surcharge (GDS) during the last three years. “Around Rs 24,178.42 million royalty on natural gas and Rs 5,573.65 million Gas Development Surcharge (GDS) on natural gas have been paid to the KP province during a three-year period,” according to an official document available with APP. As per the break-up, the government paid Rs8,821.53 million royalty and Rs Rs 68.22 GDS to the province during the fiscal year 2019-20, while Rs7,682.86 million royalty and Rs2,697.03 million GDS in 2020-21. Similarly, during the fiscal year 2021-22, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province got Rs 7,674.03 million and Rs 2,808.40 million GDS. Meanwhile, a senior official privy to petroleum sector developments explained that the gas royalty was given to provinces as per the fixed price of each and every wellhead under different policies. Overall, he said, the royalty and GDS were paid under a certain formula but the well-head price of every well varied from each other due to technical reasons.