Current gas crisis is temporary: MD SNGPL

The representatives of Afghanistan, Iran, India and Pakistan are assembling in Pakistan to deliberate on TAPI gas pipe line project in February 2015, said Managing Director Sui Northern Gas Pipe Lines Limited (SNGPL) Arif Hamid on Tuesday while giving briefing to the reporters at SNGPL Training Institute regarding the ongoing gas crisis emerge after the burning of Sui plant due to which the boiler and 16-inch gas pipe line has been destroyed.
He said that he was unable to give the exact date of restoration of gas supply. He also clarified that SNGPL is a transmission company and is not directly responsible for maintenance of the plant, but he said that compression engineers of SNGPL had reached the site and they were working along with the engineers of Pakistan Petroleum Limited and SSGC and as soon as the repair work on the site will be completed gas supply will be restored. He said the current gas crisis is temporary.
Arif said that last month a meeting regarding progress on TAPI project was held in Dubai. He said that Engro has completed its terminal in Karachi and after getting gas from that terminal gas short fall will be reduced and supply of gas to the domestic consumers will be improved. He also said that work is in progress on Iran Pakistan gas pipe line and Pakistan will construct 48-inch 700-km pipe line. He said that construction of three to four LNG terminals were under consideration.
Arif said that two boilers were run on experimental basis on Monday but they did not work properly. He, however, expressed his hope that gas will be restored anytime soon. He said that company is trying its level best to provide uninterrupted gas supply to the domestic consumers, especially in the morning and evening hours so that the people could not face any problem in cooking.
He also said that KPK and Quetta were also affected due the fault in the Sui plant. He said that line losses have reduced by 1.6 percent and now the UFG is on 10.4 percent. He, however, admitted that UFG has increased in KPK because of the law and order situation but the company is also working there to reduce it.
While answering a question Arif said that 1.5 million applications of gas connections were pending but he announced that company will provide 300,000 new connections. He also said that company has also requested OGRA to give them permission for establishing 13 new regions. He said that reason behind establishing these regions is to facilitate their customers because their network has expanded a lot in past few years. General Manager Lahore Zia Mahmood briefed the media about the gas situation in Lahore. He also said that provision of uninterrupted gas supply to the consumers is their priority.