Gas producing KP districts: residents to get gas connections

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources and the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) have agreed to provide natural gas facility to the people of gas producing districts of the province, where gas worth of Rs 8 billion is being stolen by the locals annually.
This was decided on Monday during a high-level meeting between the KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi here in Islamabad. The meeting discussed about supply of gas to Karak, Hangu and Kohat districts. The stakeholders agreed that gas connections to the locals of the gas producing areas of KP will be provided in 2 phases.
The meeting agreed that in the first phase, 2 pilot projects costing Rs 150 million will be undertaken and gas will be supplied to the people of Gurguri and Anar Cheena areas, which are located within the 5 kilometers radius of the Nashpa Gas Field. After the success of first phase, gas supply project for the people of district Kohat and other areas will be started which will cost Rs 7 billion.
It was decided that the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and the KP Government will share the cost of project. According to Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, gas theft in the gas producing districts of the province was causing a loss of Rs 8 billion to the country per annum which has been creating differences between the federal and provincial governments since 2010.
According to the Petroleum Ministry officials who attended the meeting, up to 40 million cubic feet gas per day (MMCFD), out of total gas production of 350 MMCFD in KP is being illegally used by the locals by installing substandard gas supplying equipment. After the completion of project, the SNGPL will be in a position to charge the consumers, who currently are paying nothing to the national kitty and it will significantly reduce the ratio of unaccounted for Gas (UFG) on the SNGPL network. Unaccounted for Gas (UFG) has become a serious problem for both the gas utilities as on the network of SNGPL it hovers around 10 percent and on the network of Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) around 11 percent.