ISLAMABAD: The country is once again in the grip of energy crisis (gas and fuel) due to which loadshedding duration has been increased across the country. Well-informed sources told Business Recorder that the current crisis has intensified due to incompetence of Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division)

On Saturday, SNGPL has suspended gas to general industry and CNG sector for indefinite period. The sources, shortfall was about over 5,000 MW as generation was around 20,000 MW whereas demand was 25,000 MW.

Currently, hydel generation was over 2,000 MW less from total capacity of 4,500 MW, whereas three plants, ie, Haveli Bahadar Shah, Guddu Power Plant and China Hub Power were also on outages due to faults. The reason of closure of China Hub was lightning. Power sector's RLNG requirement is 950 mmcfd whereas only 740 mmcfd RLNG is being supplied.

The sources said, urban are facing load shedding of 4 hours whereas duration of outages in rural is 8-10 hours. The sources said, PSO has not ordered required quantity of furnace oil despite payment made by the power plants. Some plants have stocks of one or two days.

The sources maintained that steel furnaces have also been shut down to give relief to other consumers. The officials of Petroleum Division were not available for comments as officers are leaving Petroleum Division due uncertainty. An official told Business Recorder that they are now waiting for rain after which demand will come down.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021