The overall gas consumption during July-March 2012-13 has registered a negative growth, said Economic Survey of Pakistan. Sectoral analysis of the gas consumption indicates that during July-March 2012-13, the highest share of gas consumption was of power sector (27.5 percent) followed by industry (22.6 percent).
Pakistan is heavily dependent on gas with total potential gas reserves of 282 trillion cubic feet out of which 24 billion cubic feet per day (BCF) are recoverable reserves with production of almost 4 BCFD. During 2012 total production remained 1,559 billion cubic feet that is equivalent to 32 million TOE which shows a growth of 6 percent when compared to last year in billion cubic feet while in TOE it shows a growth of 4.5 percent.
As the government accorded priority to provide gas to household, the share of household in gas consumption remained 23.2 percent. However, the trend of providing gas to power sector is declining since 2005-06 except in 2012 there was positive growth of 6 percent. The transport sectors is the other main sector that posted a positive of 5.3 percent growth in gas consumption during 2011-12, however, during July-March 2012-13 negative growth of 16 percent has been witnessed in the sector. Although its share in total consumption of gas has increased from 0.6 percent to 9 percent in last 10 years, now due to load management its growth is declining. Over the time the share of fertiliser sector has also declined, but still its share is significant (16 percent), however there was negative growth of 7 percent in 2012 when compared with last year. During July-March 2012-13, its growth further declined to 12 percent.
During July 2012 to February 2013, the two gas utility companies (SNGL & SSGCL) have laid 14 Km Gas Transmission Network, 4326 Km Distribution and 831Km Services lines and connected 261 villages/towns to gas network. During the period, the gas utility companies have invested Rs 1513 million in transmission projects, Rs 11,925 million in Distribution Projects and Rs 1,898 million in other projects bringing total investment to about Rs 15,336 million. During the period, 237588 additional gas connections including 236997 domestic, 221 commercial and 370 industrial were provided across the country.
It is expected that gas will be supplied to approximately 39,000 new consumers and about 350 new towns/villages will be connected to the gas network during the fiscal year 2013-14. Gas utility companies have planned to invest Rs 17437 million in Transmission Projects, Rs 27,265 million in Distribution Projects and Rs 11,165 million in other projects bringing the total investment to Rs 55,867 million during the fiscal year 2013-14.
The government has been promoting use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to reduce pollution and to improve the ambient air quality. During past few years, CNG Industry has observed a tremendous growth. At present, Pakistan is the world leading CNG user country with more than 2.7 million Natural Gas Vehicles (NGVs) plying on the roads. The choice of conversion is mainly due to the fact that price of CNG is significantly less than petrol price. Currently, more than 3,395 CNG stations are operational in the country in order to fulfil the fuels need of the NGVs.
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) contributes to about 0.5 percent of country''''s total primary energy supply mix. Use of LPG as a domestic fuel is being encouraged. The government tried to start import of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to bridge widening gap between demand and supply, but failed to import LNG due to various reasons. Pakistan has huge coal reserves estimated at over 186 billion tons; including 175 billion tons identified at Thar coalfields. Pakistan''''s coal generally ranks from lignite to sub-bituminous, therefore, to cater domestic demand almost 4 million tons of coal is imported.