The Sui-Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) authorities have restored Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) supply to CNG stations in Punjab after three months. Ghiyas Abdullah Paracha senior leader of the All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) announced this while talking to Business Recorder here on Wednesday. While appreciating the Pakistan and Qatar LNG deal he said that the agreement was Pakistan's most significant trade deal in past 15 years.
APCNGA has also decided to import 75 Million Cubic Feet per Day (MMCFD) of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to feed the CNG stations in Punjab. The CNG stations in Punjab have been closed since December 2015, although the APCNGA has submitted Rs 2 billion with the government for supply of the commodity, but as a result of a dispute between the gas utility and CNG body the supply of LNG to CNG outlets in Punjab remained suspended, an official of the Petroleum Ministry told this scribe here on Wednesday.
According to Paracha an estimated 2000,000 people are associated with 2,300 CNG filling stations across Punjab who were facing serious problems since 2010 due to massive gas load-shedding for the CNG outlets. Paracha said that LNG deal with Qatar will pave the way to re-operate CNG stations in Punjab, wherein hundreds of outlets have been forced to close the operations as a result of continued gas suspension since 2010.
SNGPL is the largest gas distribution company stretched in two provinces Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (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.