City faces gas shortage as mercury drops

Situation aggravates when every household illegally installs compressor or gas pump on pipelines

LAHORE: With a drop in mercury level, gas shortage has gripped various cities of Punjab especially congested neighbourhoods of the provincial capital. The situation further aggravates when every second household illegally installs compressors or gas pumps on pipelines to boost gas pressure, The Express Tribune learnt on Thursday.

According to a market survey, all city markets, especially Hall Road and Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) dealers are flooded with various kinds of local and Chinese gas pumps to suck natural gas from pipelines.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, an LPG gas dealer Shafiq Butt said that they have very good quality gas pumps with auto cut-off function in case of leakage. He pointed out that most of these pumps are being imported from China and the cost ranges between Rs1,500 and Rs4,000, depending on the size of the pump and quality of the product.

Since mercury level dropped and acute shortage of gas in the city took hold, sale of gas pumps and LPG cylinders has witnessed a dramatic increase, he disclosed. “We sell 10-15 pumps and over a dozen cylinders every day as gas supply in most neighbourhoods gets suspended during peak hours due to very low pressure.”

In Sindh, industrialists threaten sit-in if gas supply not restored

Another menace is the sale of illegally manufactured LPG cylinders. An LPG cylinder manufacturer Muhammad Afzal pointed out that most locally manufactured small LPG cylinders are of very poor quality and could cause fatal accidents anytime. “Instead of improving sheet gauge and quality, most small manufacturers install wood blocks in the base of the cylinder to increase its weight. It is unethical and illegal at the same time because it can cause fatal accidents.”

Afzal indicated that there is a little difference of a few hundred rupees in the retail price of certified and locally manufactured substandard LPG cylinder. A small domestic use certified LPG cylinder costs around Rs2,500 to Rs3,500, depending on its fuel carrying capacity, while their locally manufactured replicas of different sizes and shapes are being sold for Rs1,200 to Rs2,500.

“It was the government and the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority’s (OGRA) responsibility to regulate the market and curb the sale of substandard cylinders.

But, they are not making any effort to deal with this illegal business activity. Substandard LPG cylinders and gas pumps are being sold openly in the city putting lives of common citizens at risk who are already bearing the brunt of acute gas shortage in the harsh winter season,” he lamented.

MPs express ire over gas load shedding

A citizen, Arif Ali, said there is no gas supply in his area for the last one week. “We have registered various complaints to the gas utility company but in vain. Officials at the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Ltd (SNGPL) say there is a shortage of gas in the system due to high demand. He pointed out that the gas utility company has already suspended gas supply to CNG pumps and industries in order to meet domestic demand, but still it badly fails to ensure uninterrupted gas supply to domestic consumers.

A spokesperson for the SNGPL said the company has increased gas supply to the domestic sector by around 100MMCFD as per the government policy but the temperature has dropped dramatically in December due to climate change. Earlier, similar temperatures were witnessed in January.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 27^th, 2019.