The gas utilities have provided 254,870 new connections during July-February 2015-16 and planning to provide an additional 412,058 connections in 2016-17, revealed Economic Survey of Pakistan 2015-16.
According to the Survey, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) provided 254,648 gas connections to domestic, 202 commercial and 20 industrial consumers.
The Survey said that in 2017 gas utilities have planned to provide new gas connections to 412,058 consumers adding that gas contributes about 48 percent of the total primary energy supply mix of the country.
Pakistan has an extensive gas network of over 11,538 km transmission, 114,982 km distribution and 31,058 services gas pipelines to cater to the requirement of over 7.9 million consumers across the country by providing about 4 Billion Cubic Feet per Day (BCFD) of natural gas.
The average natural gas consumption is about 3.39 BCFD including 175 Million Cubic Feet per Day (Mmcfd) volume of regasified liquid natural gas (RLNG) during July 2015 to February 2016.
During July 2015 to February 2016, the two gas utility companies laid 116 kilometres gas transmission network, 1,848 km distribution and 679 km services lines and connected 203 villages and towns to gas network.
Gas utilities invested Rs 9.96 billion on transmission projects, Rs 8.71 billion on distribution projects and Rs 13.23 billion on other projects bringing total investment to about Rs 31,919 billion during the period under review.
Gas utilities plan to invest a total Rs 71.043 billion on different projects in 2017 of which Rs 13.9 billion would be on transmission projects, Rs 32.74 billion on distribution projects and Rs 24.41 billion on other projects.
During July-April FY 2016, foreign direct investment in oil and gas exploration registered US $234.8 million compared to US $230.1 million in corresponding period of last year thus posting a growth of 2 percent.
According to the Survey in the next couple of years Pakistan is expected to become a mature LNG import market with a few more projects to come online along with natural gas pipeline capacity enhancement projects.
The government has planned to establish 2nd LNG terminal which will be built at Port Qasim Karachi, to be operational by around mid- 2017. Bahria Foundation has also applied to OGRA for grant of LNG Terminal construction License.
During July-April 2016 a total 4.98 million tons crude oil products were imported compared to 4.81 million tons in the corresponding period last year showing a growth of 3.5 percent, while in terms of value $1.95 billion was imported compared to US $3.59 billion in the comparable period last year showing a decline of 47 percent - a decline attributed to a decline in international oil price.