ISLAMABAD: The Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) has planned two to three days industrial closure in Sindh in a week depending upon the line pack conditions and the acceptance of RLNG-local gas blend by industrial consumers.
Suspension of gas supply to industrial units in Sindh in the winter is expected considering the short indigenous gas supplies and increase in demand of the domestic sector particularly in Quetta due to extreme cold weather.
According to documents available with Business Recorder, currently, one to two days industrial closures are implemented with the 25:75 RLNG and indigenous gas blend to captive power of industries.
Senate panel told: SSGC gas production shrinking sharply
The total indigenous supplies during this winter will remain around 720 mmcfd, whereas, the constrained demand of all sectors is estimated to be 1125 mmcfd.
The gap between demand and supply is estimated to be around 400 mmcfd. Partial curtailments in the industrial sector are being carried out as per sectorial priority order: domestic and commercial first, power, export-oriented industries and fertiliser second, general industries and its captive power third, cement sector and its captive power fourth and CNG at fifth.
The suspension of gas supply to industrial units in Sindh has witnessed a decline of 56 percent in fiscal year 2023-24 from 100 percent in 2015-16. Every year above 10 percent of gas is depleting and the demand of gas is increasing day by day.
The SSGC was getting 1280 mmcfd gas in the fiscal year 2015-16 which dropped to 720 mmcfd in the current fiscal year. In 2015-16, the constrained demand of local gas was 1479 mmcfd which increased to 1897 mmcfd in 2023-24 in the current fiscal year.
On Wednesday, Senator Mohsin Aziz remarked in the Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum that Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan are among the largest producers of gas in the country, but unfortunately, a major portion of this gas is being utilised in Punjab. In other words, he said the Punjab industry is cross-subsidised by other gas-producing province.
He alleged that 50:50 percent LNG and indigenous gas to export-oriented industry in Punjab has also been charged the 50 percent of full tariff for LNG and local gas.
He further said that the government has increased the per BTU price from Rs1,100 to 2,600 for KPK industrial sectors and reduced the per BTU price from Rs3,600 to 2,700 for industrial sectors in Punjab.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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