Over the past years, demand & supply position of Natural Gas on SNGPL's system has deteriorated since the impact of new domestic connections works out to around 80~100 MMCFD annually during winter months while the reduction in supplies works out to around 160 MMCFD each year. Thus each year, SNGPL faces an additional shortfall of 250 MMCFD.
The shortfall is bridged through load management (curtailment) in different sectors in Punjab, but not limited to Power, Industry, Cement, CNG and Fertiliser sectors, in order to cater for high priority domestic and commercial sectors in accordance with the Natural Gas Allocation and Management Policy, 2005 and its subsequent amendments. Due to the decision of Peshawar High Court against a writ petition invoking Article-158 of the constitution, there is no curtailment in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
During the current winter season, SNGPL was left with no option but to curtail total system quality gas supplies to all sectors in Punjab other than Domestic and Commercial consumers. Even with the said suspension, the gas available for Punjab (600 MMCFD) is not sufficient to meet the demand of domestic and commercial sectors in extreme winters (around 1000 MMCFD). Resultantly, the consumers that are located distant from the supply mains face severe low pressure issues. In order to avert low pressure due to operational bottlenecks, the Company has undertaken system augmentation, looping of line, re-drilling of service tee, establishment of emergency teams to resolve low pressure complaints. Operational teams are working around the clock for this particular activity. However, additional gas is required to enable meeting the demand of consumers.
It is worth clarifying that some sectors / consumers continue to get gas even during winter months. These include the Power and Fertilizer sector consumers which are supplied Raw, Permeate or Low BTU gas, which is not fit for supply to other sectors through SNGPL's pipeline network. These dedicated supplies typically range from 180 to 240 MMCFD. Further, SNGPL is bound to supply 15 MMCFD system quality gas to Engro Fertilisers, under firm commitment. Additionally, Cement sector is being supplied around 12 MMCFD, out of which, around 7~8 MMCFD is supplied to the plants located in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Remaining 4~5 MMCFD is mainly supplied to residential colonies of Cement plants in Punjab since the same fall under domestic consumers.
Some sectors / consumers have opted for supplies of Re-gasified LNG (RLNG). M/s Rousch, Fauji Kabirwala, Kot Adu, Saif, Sapphire, Orient and Halmore from the Power Sector, M/s Pak-Arab from Fertiliser sectors and large number of consumers from Industrial and CNG sectors have opted for RLNG supplies and are being supplied RLNG on as available basis. This shift has contributed to reduction in the overall demand supply gap of natural gas. Domestic sector is not being supplied RLNG due to its heavy cost component.-PR
Comments
Comments are closed.