The establishment of synthetic natural gas (SNG) projects is the only immediate alternative available to face the shortage of natural gas, as compared to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) projects, or the supply of gas from Iran to Pakistan.
According to Dabir-ul-Mulk, a former managing director of Indus Gas Company, SNG projects are quicker to implement and far less expensive than LPG and gas transmission pipeline.
SNG is the term used for a blend of LPG and air that provides replacement for natural gas. The blend has a specific ratio which results into a gas with combustion characteristics essentially identical to natural gas, and produces equivalent of energy.
SNG can be used by both natural gas distribution companies and industrial gas consumers to supplement their natural gas shortage during peak demand periods and can be used as a backup system during periods when natural supplies are curtailed to industrial consumers.
SNG can be provided in areas/region where natural gas is currently not available and, later on, with the arrival of natural gas, in the region the system is switched over. The plant so spared may be shifted to some other region. Thus, it provides a bridge fuel for a long-term solution for energy need for a remote area where gas transmission pipeline extension is not under plan.
Dabir said that the concept of SNG (LPG-cum-air mix) technology is not new for Pakistan as it was introduced and commissioned 34 years ago, in1974, in Quetta by Indus Gas Company Ltd, which was merged with Sui Gas Transmission Company and Karachi Gas Company to form the current Sui Southren Gas Company (SSGC).
He recalled that in 1973, in view of the keenness of Pakistan government to supply gas to Quetta city, as fast as possible on priority basis, the following options were evaluated:
-- Construct natural gas pipeline, involving a length of 360 km, to bring Sui gas to Quetta from Sui field.
-- Supply LPG in cylinders.
-- Construct a coal gasification system and a distribution pipeline network in the town, and
-- Construct 'LPG-cum-air mix' to supply gas to the town.
-- On fast track basis, in 2005, under the directives of Pakistan government, the SSGC installed the 'LPG-cum-air mix' system, which was commissioned by the US-based Ely Energy Company to provide gas to the newly developed town/commercial users of Gwader.
To meet large-scale demand of natural gas (NG), application of liquefied natural gas (LNG) can be a critical strategic tool. However, LNG project, being time consuming in implementation and highly expensive, does not provide the perfect solution to the problems peculiar to Pakistan. Had the application of SNG technology introduction 34 years ago in Pakistan been developed fully, the intensity of crisis for the present gas supply situation would not have been there, Dabir said.
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