ISLAMABAD: State-owned gas companies – Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) have provided connections to 467,054 new consumers during the financial year 2020-21. This is stated in the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority’s “State of the Regulated Petroleum Industry FY 2020-21.”

The gas company SNGPL has added 371,618 new consumers during the year registering 7.41 million total consumers on its network. The SSGCL has added 95,436 new connections making a total of 3.21 million consumers on its network.

Overall, there were 10.62 million natural gas consumers in the country by the end of the financial year 2020-21.

Sindh’s share in total gas supply has declined by 11 percent from 1,344 MMCFD in the financial year 2019-20 to 1,192 MMCFD in 2020-21, Punjab’s share declined by nine per cent from 91 MMCFD to 83 MMCFD and Balochistan by one per cent from 335 MMCFD to 333 MMCFD. Whereas, the share of KP has increased by eight per cent from 368 MMCFD to 398 MMCFD during the same period.

The share of RLNG has increased by 13 per cent from 857 MMCFD to 969 MMCFD. In overall gas supplies, the share of Sindh has declined from 45 to 40 per cent, KP from 13 to 12 per cent, whereas, the share of Balochistan and Punjab remain steady at 11 and three per cent respectively. The share of RLNG has increased from 29 to 33 per cent during the period under review.

The main consumer of natural gas was the power sector, consuming over 30 per cent (1,305 MMCFD), followed by the domestic sector with 20 per cent (862 MMCFD), fertilizer 19 per cent (829 MMCFD), General Industry eight per cent (365 MMCFD) and captive power 5 per cent (203 MMCFD) of the total gas consumed during FY 2020-21. In Province-wise gas consumption, Punjab’s share was 52 per cent (1,426 MMCFD), Sindh 39 per cent (1,052 MMCFD), KP 7 per cent (190 MMCFD) and Baluchistan 2 per cent (64 MMCFD) of total gas consumption during the year under review.

Natural gas supply during the year was 4,172 MMCFD compared to 4,050 MMCFD last year. Mari, Sui, Uch, Qadirpur, Kandhkot and Maramzai, etc, were major gas fields. Out of total gas supplies 1,153 MMCFD as against 1,057 MMCFD last year, was supplied by the gas fields/producers directly to their consumers and the remaining through gas utility companies.

Natural gas sector data: In FY 2020-21 the indigenous gas production has declined by over 6 per cent to 2,006 MMCFD from 2,138 MMCFD as compared to F.Y. 2019-20, whereas gas consumption has increased by over five per cent which reaches to 3,884 MMCFD from 3,683 MMCFD.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022