"Gas theft, law and order affected areas, minimum billing, leakages, measurement errors and shift of bulk sales to retail sector are among the major UFG contributing factors," they told APP.

The government, they said, has taken drastic measures against gas theft and illegal connections across the country which is helping to bring down down the UFG losses gradually.

In line with the international practices, the UFG is calculated with the difference between the metered gas volume injected into the transmission and distribution network - Point of Dispatch (POD) and the metered gas delivered to the end consumers at Consumer Meter Station (CMS) during a financial year.

The sources said the gas companies have detected around 133,106 gas theft cases in their respective operational areas during the last three years.

From July 2013 to August 2016, the SNGPL identified 130,516 theft cases, involving 18,031 mmcf (million cubic feet) gas and Rs 10,496 million in stolen money.

While, it identified gas theft of 22,819 mmcf by non-consumers and 34,154 mmcf in law and order affected areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The sources informed that the SSGCL had detected 1,265 theft cases, registered 118 FIRs (first information reports), charged 713 mmcf gas and recovered Rs 613 million from the industrial pilferers.

Whereas, they said, the company identified 1,335 cases, registered 91 FIRs against the domestic gas pilferers, who stolen 6,689 mmcf gas amounting to Rs 1,1992 million.