Ministry of Petroleum (MoP) has strongly opposed the plan of Water and Power Ministry to allocate the entire available gas at Kunnar/Pasakhi gas fields for power generation and warned against re-opening of the issue settled by the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet saying it will lead to an uproar amongst gas consumers of fertiliser manufacturers, industry and CNG sectors, Business Recorder has learnt reliably.
ECC of the Cabinet has already allocated 250mmcfd gas from Pasakhi/Kunnar fields to SSGCL that will share 50 percent gas with SNGPL through swap arrangements. "Reopening of the settled issue is not supported," Petroleum Ministry said and urged the Ministry of Water and Power to upgrade inefficient plants to generate more power with the existing gas allocation.
MoP has warned that if SNGPL is unable to fulfil its commitments under Gas Sales Agreements (GSAs) with Independent Power Producers (IPPs) due to gas shortage, it will be forced to pay heavy penalties in the form of alternate fuel cost. A demand of 150mmcfd per annum is being added to the systems of SNGPL and SSGCL to meet the target of new gas connections set by the government of Pakistan.
At present, SNGPL and SSGCL are facing a shortfall of more than one billion cubic feet gas per day (bcfd) which is projected to reach 1.8bcfd in 2014-15 despite addition of Pasakhi/Kunnar gas field, other small fields and anticipated commissioning of Iran Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline and LNG project. With the progressive depletion of the major gas fields, it may not be possible for SSGCL/SNGPL to meet the demand of existing consumers. "This may lead to uproar amongst the gas consumers and massive unemployment," Petroleum Ministry warned.
The Ministry maintained that SNGPL and SSGCL have been forced to curtail gas supply to its consumers during summer. Fertiliser sector with firm agreements is facing a gas shortage. Industries are not being provided gas for two days a week and CNG sector remains closed for one day per week. Petroleum Ministry stated that injection of Pasakhi/Kunner gas into SSGCL and SSGCL system is imperative to save the system of both the gas companies from collapsing.
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