The rush begins: CNG stations to remain closed until Sunday morning

There is a possibility that gas supply to industrial houses as well as to KESC could be reduced.

KARACHI:

CNG stations across Sindh will remain closed until 9:00 am on Sunday as the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) announced on Friday that it expected a reduction in gas supply from Bhit gas field.

According to SSGC’s Inayatullah Ismail, a fault had developed in the field, which was repaired on Wednesday. However, the problem resurfaced.

“There are wells that [can develop] a technical fault, and there is an entire ‘train’ of wells that are interconnected. Therefore, all of them get affected,” said Ismail.

Ismail said that SSGC gets 340 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of gas from the Bhit gas field. While the company had planned to stop using the gas field from Saturday night, it was forced to resort to the measure on Friday night.

Since SSGC prioritises its customers, there is a possibility that gas supply to industrial houses as well as the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) could be reduced. However, no formal announcement was made in this regard. Domestic consumers are often given a priority by the gas company.

KESC admitted that it was not informed about any reduction to its gas supply, and that it was receiving 190-200 mmcfd from SSGC every day.

Motorists would probably suffer most as CNG stations were warned on Friday that they would have to be closed until Sunday.

“We sell about 90 mmcfd daily in Sindh, so our losses would be huge. Our members are going to the Bhit gas field to see if there is actually a fault, or if something else is going on.

We will know by tomorrow [Saturday] afternoon,” said CNG Station Owners’ Association chairman Malik Khuda Bux.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 7^th, 2012.