After opposition from different industries, Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), for the time being, has decided to put on hold the gas load management in Sindh and Balochistan.
The decision was taken on Monday in a meeting between representatives of compressed natural gas (CNG) station operators, industrial associations and SSGC management at the SSGC head office.
SSGC was reluctant to give any assurance to the industry of indefinitely postponing gas load management, but it agreed for the time being to put on hold gas outages. Recently, after the annual turnaround (ATA) of Kadanwari gas field, SSGC had announced a two-day weekly closure for both the industry and CNG outlets.
All Pakistan CNG Association Central Chairman Junaid Makda said that for the time being, SSGC has agreed to postpone gas load management for CNG outlets and industry in Sindh and Balochistan.
“We do not know about the future plans of the company, but in the short term it has restrained itself,” he added. “We know that the country is facing gas shortage, so we have to get ready for any possible ATA that could again force SSGC to start gas load management,” he said.
CNG station operators and industry representatives urged SSGC to postpone gas outages after the orders of Sindh High Court (SHC), in which it asked the company to put off gas load management.
SSGC spokesperson Zuhair Siddiqui said that the company would “maintain status quo on load management matters” and it will decide the future line of action later.
CNG and industry representatives pushed SSGC to implement SHC’s orders which said that the company should prefer gas consumers of Sindh and Balochistan and then supply excess gas to other provinces. They said that natural resources of a province should be first given to the residents of the province. Sindh contributes some 71% of natural gas produced in Pakistan.
When asked, Siddiqui replied they have no orders from the government to supply gas to Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), which caters to needs of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Therefore, the company is not providing any gas to SNGPL, he said.
Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association Chairman Abdul Sami Khan said “we have communicated our stance to SSGC officials that we will not resist any new plans of load management in the province.”
Site Association of Trade and Industry Chairman Wahab Lakhani said that the body urged SSGC to follow court orders and first provide gas to Sindh and Balochistan. He said that factories in industrial areas are not getting regular supply and “sometimes we face very low gas pressure.”
However, he hoped that SSGC efforts will bring more gas in the system in coming months and there would be no need for gas outages.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 26th, 2011.
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