Qadirpur repairs squeeze gas supply

Expect gas, CNG and electricity shortages as the Qadirpur gas field is being closed for repairs for seven days.

LAHORE: Expect gas, CNG and electricity shortages from today as the Qadirpur gas field is being closed for repairs for seven days.

Technicians will install new compressors at the site after the old ones were damaged by flood waters, said SNGPL spokesman Naeem A Khan. Qadirpur gas field, which is located near Ghotki in Sindh, produces up to 450 million million cubic feet of gas per day.

The closure of the field for repairs will affect CNG stations, industries like fertiliser factories, and power plants, said SNGPL deputy managing director Hasnat Aziz. The company will balance gas supply to these consumers.

“Power plants near Lahore are getting a regular supply of gas but supply to Kot Adu could be affected,” he said. Lahore’s CNG stations will be closed on Wednesday and Thursday while supply to industrial consumers will be suspended for five days, he added.

The Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) will do its best to control power outages caused by the lack of gas supply to its power plants, said Shafqat Jaleel, the director general of public relations at Pepco.

He said there were no outages during the Eid holidays because power production equalled demand during the last three days at 12,400MW.

Another Pepco official said demand was likely to rise on Tuesday as industries, business centres, markets and banks reopened after the holidays. “The power demand will increase in the coming days after normal work resumes and this will increase the shortfall,” said the official. “People should prepare for at least four hours of outages every day.”

All Pakistan CNG Association Chairman Ghayas Paracha confirmed that CNG stations would be closed on Wednesday and Thursday due to the closure of Qadirpur.

Short of petrol on Eid

Meanwhile, the city faced a petrol shortage during the Eid holidays and a number of fuel stations remained closed. Petrol station owners said they were not getting supply.

“There has been no supply since Friday because of the Eid holidays and now we have no petrol,” said the manager of a petrol station on Model Town Link Road. He said he was expecting fresh supplies on Tuesday.

Most of the petrol stations that were open over the holidays rationed the petrol they were selling. Motorcycles were allowed petrol worth Rs100 while cars were allowed Rs300-400 of petrol.

Some consumers complained that illegal sellers were charging Rs75-80 per litre of petrol, whereas the market price is Rs67.5 per litre. “During the Eid holidays, there is no choice but to buy at higher rates,” said consumer Sadeed Malik.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14^th, 2010.