The lost gas

Pakistan's natural gas downstream sector is well established with an extensive infrastructure of more than 170,000-km of transmission and distribution network and supporting facilities. This vast network provides natural gas to an ever-growing consumer base of approximately 9.5 million consisting of domestic, commercial and industrial sectors that are further divided into power, cement, general industry, captive power, fertilizer and CNG sectors.
The country's gas market witnessed an extraordinary growth from 2001 to 2016. Gas sales volume of the two gas utility companies - SSGC and SNGPL - increased from 1.3 BCFD in 2001 to 3.9 BCFD in 2016. The growth was a result of the commercialization of the discoveries made in the 1990s in Sindh. The augmentation of the distribution network and an increase in domestic consumer base further drove up demand for natural gas.
The growth in gas sales stagnated post-2008, due to shortage of gas supply owing to depleting natural gas resources. Currently, Pakistan produces around 4 BCFD of natural gas - accounting for 48 percent share in the primary energy mix - against a demand of more than 6 BCFD. Gas import projects and interstate projects were undertaken to augment the supply side and help in mitigating the gas shortages to a great extent in the aftermath of depleting gas resources and lack of major discoveries.
As mentioned above, the increase in natural gas demand predominantly arose from the growth in the consumer base. The phenomenon of Un-accounted-for-gas (UfG) or gas losses further complicated the demand situation while widening the supply-demand gap, more so in the winters.
The good news is that the menace of UfG is now well understood by the two gas companies. The issue of UfG for most part of the last decade remained in double digits for both the companies and easily exceeded the Ogra benchmark. It was inarguably a major menace since it impacts these companies financial bottom-line. UfG is caused by gas theft, measurement and billing errors, shift of bulk sales to retail sector and line leakages. Theft has always been singled out as the main reason behind UfG and both SSGC and SNGPL have focused on its prevention and control.
Gas leakages, a major contributory factor behind demand rising UfG trend can be attributed both to the supply and consumer side. Insufficient maintenance, poor corrosion protection, falling standards of workmanship and use of under spec materials contributed to the deterioration in the age-old gas pipelines. Both the utility companies have well recognised this problem and have been working for more than a decade on system augmentation, rehabilitation and removing bottlenecks by replacing leaking lines. As they have found out, year in and year out, putting a lid on leakages has turned out to be a tall order.
On the consumer side, industry observers estimate that 83% of the primary energy, including crude oil and natural gas are wasted when it is utilised for lighting, cooling, cooking and transportation purposes. Natural gas takes the lion's share of this wastage, with domestic and power sectors being the main culprits.
From the environment point of view, leakages also contribute to global warming. Acceding to industry analysts, although natural gas is a comparatively cleaner fuel than coal or petrol, the global warming potential of methane released into the atmosphere is 86 times that of CO2 over a 20-year span. They recommend leakage to be less than 1.4% to balance local pollution relief with global warming impacts. In other words, leakages on the supply and consumer side are drastically contributing to global warming.
Thankfully, gas companies are realising the impact of leakages. Gas conservation and anti-leakage campaigns now run on a regular basis to educate the masses about putting a lid on leakages and other ways to save or conserve gas. This year, SSGC carried out an anti-leakage campaign that asked customers to show more responsibility than ever by reporting gas leakage to the gas company both inside and outside their homes, to prevent any damage or fatality. On its conservation campaigns, the stress was on consuming gas responsibly be it in using geysers in winters or stoves in the kitchen. For geysers, SNGPL has been promoting its conical baffles for slowing down exhaust gases and the Jal Bujh programmable timer device and app, each of which offers 25% gas savings. Gas companies educate their consumers to check for gas leakages in several ways. One involves shutting off all gas-fired appliances at night and noting down meter reading and then reading the meter again before switching off any appliance, with a difference showing a leakage. The other suggested way is the soap test that involves making a solution of soap and water and applying it to all gas pipes. If one sees bubbles forming and growing in size that is a clear indication of leakage. The bigger the bubbles that are forming, the more leakage you have at that point.
There is also a pressing need for manufacturers to produce instant, highly-efficient, correctly sized geysers that would ensure appreciable energy efficiency. Some experts have even gone to the extent of suggesting that gas companies must perform annual leakage checks for all domestic consumers which has always been the domain of the customer. It is an expensive proposition, but one the energy mandarins will do well to ponder over.
At the end of the day, to put a lid on the wasted gas is a shared responsibility of both the gas companies and their customers. And while the Government plan of augmenting gas supply is the need of the hour, conserving natural gas by reducing line leakages from both demand and supply perspective is also extremely necessary. It will be energy security that will give us true energy efficiency.