Gas outages may rise to 60 days this winter

Ministry says supply to fertiliser plants will be stopped for a month.

ISLAMABAD:

Gas distribution companies have cautioned the government that gas crisis will worsen this winter, forcing them to increase outages from 45 days to 60 days from December 2011 to February 2012, documents show.

According to the documents, the Ministry of Industries in a summary sent to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet said Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) would not be able to ensure uninterrupted supply to fertiliser companies because of gas shortages.

In November, fertiliser plants running on supplies from Mari Gas will see gas supply falling by 12 per cent while those getting gas from Sui fields will face a reduction of 20 per cent. This means these companies will get 20 to 30 per cent less gas next month.

However, from December 15 to January 15 next year gas supply to fertiliser plants will be completely stopped because of load-shedding, say the documents.

The Oil and Gas Development Company’s Kunnar Pasakhi gas exploration project is expected to come online by June 2012, which will provide 100 million cubic feet of gas per day. However, it will not be able to substantially address the shortages, estimated at two billion cubic feet per day in peak season.

The ministry said in the summary the government would need to import fertiliser for the current Rabi sowing season as domestic fertiliser companies would not be able to meet demand due to less gas supply to them. The ECC in a meeting held on Thursday constituted a committee to review fertiliser production and supply and take a decision on import.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 15^th, 2011.