Kandhkot gas not being fully utilised

While independent power producers (IPPs) are starved for natural gas, the Kandhkot field''s gas output is not being fully consumed, sources said. The gas output is only provided to government owned Guddu Power Plant, they said. Sources said that Kandhkot gas field located in Sindh had 250mmscfd of gas available, out of which only 130 mmscfd was being utilised which was solely being used by the Guddu Power Plant.
"As loadshedding issues continue to plague the country, industrial sectors face gas curtailment and some industries face possible shutdown as they have not received gas for most of the year", sources said. They said the industrial sectors were expected to face further gas curtailment in winter with further job losses on the horizon.
"As of now the textile industry is facing curtailment of two days per week while the fertiliser sector on the SNGPL network had been closed for most of the year. But what extremely surprising is that there are still gas fields which are not being utilised", they said, adding Kandhkot gas field had 250mmscfd of gas available out of which only 130 mmscfd was being utilised which is solely being used by the Guddu Power Plant.
The Guddu Power Plant does not have the capacity to take further gas and the remaining 90 to 120 mmscfd of gas can be provided to other sectors to add to the economic value of the country. "However this is not happening and precious gas lies in spare capacity", they said. The sources suggested that this gas should be used for industries such as the fertiliser sector if it could not be used for the power sector.
They said the government was taking various steps to minimise loadshedding in the country and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources had been fighting for an equal distribution of gas across all the sectors to ensure employment and economic value as opposed to focusing solely on loadshedding. "The differences between the ministries need to be sorted and solutions worked on to ensure gas be utilised for other sectors rather than being wasted", they said.