LAHORE: Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) on Thursday announced launch of crackdown against gas theft. In a press conference held at SNGPL Head Office in Lahore, MD SNGPL Amer Tufail said that the company has always dealt strictly with gas theft cases but the drive has been sped up on the special directives of Federal Government.

MD SNGPL said that the company lodged 803 FIRs in the last three years against gas theft. During the same period, more than 325,000 gas theft cases were detected and a recovery of Rs2.4 billion has already been made from those involved in the act. He added that the company has made remarkable progress in UFG reduction during the last four years.

MD SNGPL Amer Tufail informed journalists that the federal government had assigned a UFG reduction target of 18 BCF during 3 years i.e. from FY 2019-20 to FY 2021-22 whereas the company surpassed the target and reduced it by 23 BCF saving around Rs12.5 billion of the national kitty.

Discussing the law and order challenges in oil & gas producing areas i.e. Karak and adjoining areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Amer Tufail said that with the help of law enforcement agencies, federal government, MOE (Petroleum Division), provincial government and local administration, the company managed to overcome the challenge and reduced gas loss by 66 percent.

Briefing the journalists about use of technology to curb gas theft, Amer Tufail said that real time monitoring through SCADA has enabled the company to timely detect theft and under billing by industrial consumers.

He said that the company has also installed cyber locks on suspicious industrial connections and any act of tempering with these locks is immediately detected. He said that the company has rectified leakages on 87,000 kilometres network during the last three years.

MD SNGPL assured that the company has implemented zero tolerance policy against gas theft and informed that the company has taken strict action against 361 employees in this regard through termination from service, demotion, stoppage of salary increments among others.

MD SNGPL requested the media representatives and public to immediately report gas theft to helpline 1199. He appealed general public to use gas wisely.

Answering questions from journalists, MD SNGPL said that the company ensures gas supply at optimum pressure during cooking hours in winter season. He said that decision on removal of ban on gas connection can only be taken by the Government of Pakistan. He said that SNGPL is planning to establish two model customer service centres in Lahore and Islamabad to further improve the customer service quality.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023