Gas supply to two fertiliser plants resumes

Outages for CNG stations extended by 12 hours.

LAHORE:

Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) has extended gas curtailment for compressed natural gas (CNG) stations of Punjab by 12 hours to spare the fuel for fertiliser and other industries.

Earlier, the CNG filling stations were scheduled to be closed for 64 hours in a week.

SNGPL Managing Director Arif Hameed told The Express Tribune that now the company would give preference to fertiliser and other industries, which suffered a lot in the recent winter season.

“Fertiliser plants were totally closed for the whole winter, but now we have started providing gas to two plants – Engro Fertiliser and Pak-Arab Fertiliser – along with industries of Punjab,” he said. “We have been instructed by the government to give priority to fertiliser and other industries.”

The industries of the province will now get gas for three days a week compared to two days earlier. Hameed defended the increase in gas curtailment for CNG stations, saying it would not affect people much as the increased outages would start late in the night.

For months, fertiliser companies and industrial giants had been pressing the SNGPL and the government for gas supply, saying industries were more important than CNG stations and residential consumers.

Hameed expected gas supply to improve in a couple of weeks with improvement in temperature in northern areas, where the weather was still cold. After that, he said, “we will provide gas to two more fertiliser plants which will enable them to resume operations. We will also adjust each sector according to the gas availability.”

Meanwhile, in response to increased outages, CNG dealers called a meeting of its central executive committee in Islamabad on Monday to discuss the issue.

Talking to The Express Tribune, All Pakistan CNG Association Punjab Chapter President Captain (Retd) Shuja Anwar said the CNG industry was expecting a reduction in gas curtailment from March due to change in weather, but was gifted with an increase in outages.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 4^th, 2012.