Surplus production: K-P’s consumers have first right to use of its gas

Peshawar High Court heard a petition filed by a local textile mill against the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited

PESHAWAR: A court on Wednesday ruled that gas consumers of the province have first-use right over the fuel extracted from well within its borders.

Wednesday’s verdict follows a similar verdict the court had issued in 2010.

This was decreed by a two-judge bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) comprising Justice Ikramullah Khan and Justice Musarat Hilali as it heard a petition filed by a local textile mill against the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL).

SNGPL was subsequently directed to ensure uninterrupted supply of gas to industries in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).



The petition had been filed by proprietors of Saif Textile Mill through their counsel Qazi Ghulam Dastagir. They argued that under article 158 of the Constitution, the province where the well-head of natural gas is situated shall have precedence over other parts of Pakistan to consuming gas produced from it.

The mill urged the court to direct the gas provider to fulfill its constitutional obligation and to ensure uninterrupted supply of gas to industries in is producing surplus natural gas.

The petitioner told the court that his textile mill, like other industrial units of the province, require uninterrupted power supply In the event of supply disruption, the raw material in the process is wasted causing a huge loss to the mill.

To mitigate the risk of loss due to unannounced power load shedding, the petitioner said, they have resorted installed a large, 2.25-megawatt gas-fired captive power plant. A separate gas connection for supply of two million cubic feet of gas per day was also taken from the utility service.



But, to meet the growing demand of energy and the high irregular power supply by PESCO, the petitioner had decided to expand its captive power plant and asked SNGPL for another MMCFD to meet its power needs.

However, in 2014, the petitioner said that the SNGPL told them that the request could not be acceded due to a moratorium imposed by the federal government.

“The moratorium is unwarranted as far as K-P is concerned since the province is producing sufficient natural gas for its own use,” Dastagir argued.

The lawyer added that as per the Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan, natural gas production in K-P had quadrupled from 29,706 million cubic feet (MCF) in 2007 to 126,234 MFC in 2013. By contrast, he said, K-P was consuming just 65,179 mcf, with a surplus of 61,055 mcf.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2018.