The gas shortfall volume on the network of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) has reached 1.4 Billion Cubic Feet per Day (BCFD) mark with the result the consumers on the network are facing severe low gas pressure. According to official figures of the SNGPL, the company was receiving 1.88 BCFD of gas against total demand of 3.2 BCFD. Out of the total gas being injected into the SNGPL system 301 Million Cubic Feet per Day (MMCFD) is dedicated to power houses and other sectors while the company was also getting 400 MMCFD of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).
As a result of serious gas shortage, the SNGPL management has suspended gas supply to general industrial units. Supply has been reduced to textile units from 8 hours a day to 4 hours a day and no gas is being supplied for the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) stations as well as fertiliser plants situated on the network.
According to senior officials of SNGPL, with the start of the winter the gas shortfall on the network of the company has reached 1.4 BCFD against 800 Million Cubic Feet per Day (MMCFD) in October and this gap will further increase in January 2016 and is expected to start declining in February.
Low gas pressure is a normal phenomenon in winter seasons but in order to alleviate the suffering from the customers, the two gas utilities were implementing the ECC approved 'Gas Load Management Plan' in the across-the-board distribution of gas. The rationalisation gives first preference to the domestic customers followed by industrial, commercial and CNG sectors.
"SNGPL is the largest gas distribution company stretched in two provinces Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KP) and serving over 4 million consumers. In Punjab domestic sector's gas consumption has reached around 950 MMCFD, while in KP total demand stands at 350 MMCFD. There is no gas suspension to any sector in KP as it was a gas producing province which stands at 350-370 MMCFD," the official said.
The government has compensated the textile industrial units of the province, where hundreds of thousands of people are working, by assuring them of uninterrupted power supply during the winter season. However an estimated 2,000,000 people associated with 2,300 CNG filling stations in Punjab at present have become jobless because of the gas suspension.
The government has planned to take LNG imports to 2.4 BCFD within next three years to bridge the overall gas demand/supply gap, which at present is hovering 2.5 BCFD mark. Out of total national gas production of 4.2 BCFD 2.9 BCFD is distributed through the networks of the SNGPL and SSGC, SNGPL is getting a total 1.4 BCFD of gas, out of which some of the quantity is dedicated to power houses, while SSGC is getting 1.5 BCFD.