SSGC cuts gas supply to CNG stations and industries again

Discontinuation of supply from Bhit field causes gas emergency.

KARACHI:

Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) on Friday has once again reduced gas supply to compressed natural gas (CNG) stations and industries in Sindh after a sudden drop of 350 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) in gas supply from the Bhit field on Friday morning, SSGC officials said.

“Discontinuation of supply from the Bhit gas field has caused emergency owing to a massive drop in the gas pressure. The system is not fully responding although the situation improved by Friday evening,” an official from SSGC told The Express Tribune.

The fall in gas pressure from SSGC has forced the CNG stations to stay shut from Friday night to Sunday morning. All CNG stations in Sindh will remain closed for 36 hours from 9pm on Friday to 9am on Sunday. Gas supply to CNG pumps has declined to 40 mmcfd from the daily average of 100 mmcfd. Shutting CNG stations for 36 hours will be an additional closure if we take into account the weekly load-management closure on Thursday this week. SSGC on Thursday announced closure of all CNG stations in Sindh for 24 hours owing to the sudden fall of gas supply from the Bhit gas field.

Since, the Bhit gas supply drop is significant, the SSGC has also been forced to disrupt supply to industries and the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC), the official added.

The utility company has cut short the supply to the industrial sector by 20%, the official said, adding that the industries’ gas consumption has dropped considerably because captive power plants installed in industries become inoperative at low gas pressure.

However, gas supply to KESC has been reduced to 180 mmcfd from 225 mmcfd, which could increase the number of hours of load-shedding in Karachi.

SSGC officials said that the gas consumption by the CNG sector is continuously increasing which will further hurt the widening demand and supply gap in the province.

Pakistan is facing severe gas shortages as demand continues to rise and supply continues to fall owing to low influx of investments in the gas sector in the last few years.

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