First LNG terminal to be ready in two months

Sui Northern Gas Pipelines likely to start marketing LPG soon.

LAHORE: Pakistan will get its first liquefied natural gas terminal within two months and other mega projects will take six months to come on line, which are critical to quench growing energy thirst, says Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) Managing Director Arif Hameed.

Speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Monday, Hameed said SNGPL was endeavouring to bridge increasing gap between demand and supply of gas to ease the sufferings of consumers in Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and other areas that come under the company’s jurisdiction.

An ongoing improvement of system will help curb line losses, which, according to him, have already been brought down significantly.

SNGPL is also working on a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) plant and it will soon start marketing this environment-friendly gas. Efforts are underway to explore untapped tight gas reserves in Punjab, which will help overcome energy crisis in the country.

In another programme, SNGPL is going to promote solar geysers that will lessen the dependence on natural gas. According to Hameed, these geysers will be provided to consumers at subsidised rates and the price will be recovered from them in installments spread over two years.

He said the Inter-State Gas Systems, tasked with developing gas import projects, was working on implementing the Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project, for which tenders had already been floated.



Speaking on the occasion, LCCI President Farooq Iftikhar, while highlighting the plight of businesses, said since the start of winter, the industry had been experiencing worst shortage of gas.

He said the textile industry was bearing the brunt of gas shortage, especially in Punjab, which houses 80% of textile units. Besides gas shortage, suspension of power supply for over a month will put at stake jobs of over 15 million people and exports of $14 billion.

Iftikhar underlined the need for exploring fresh gas reserves to meet growing demand as existing reservoirs were depleting fast.

According to estimates, gas shortage is expected to reach 2.5 billion cubic feet per day in 2014-15, 3 bcfd in 2015-16 and 3.5 bcfd in 2016-17. “Unless major gas discoveries and field developments are made, the gap is likely to shoot up to 5 bcfd in 2020-21,” he feared.

The current gap in gas supply and demand has gone up to 1.1 bcfd, which is likely to widen further in January, causing more trouble for the industry.



Iftikhar asked SNGPL to remain careful while expanding its network considering the increasing gap between supply and demand. Moreover, he said, the company’s priorities should be reset and the industry should particularly be given its due share to enable it to continue production process without interruption.

In the absence of any quota, he said, consumption of compressed natural gas (CNG) in vehicles had gone quite high, making Pakistan one of the top consumers of CNG despite it being only 24th in the world in terms of gas production. In the year 2000, CNG’s share in gas consumption was 4%, which has now increased to 11.85%.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2013.                 

Like Business on Facebook to stay informed and join in the conversation.