Court directs Sui Southern Gas Company to supply 276 MMCFD of gas to KESC
Petitioners claim SSGC flouting cabinet committee's decision.
KARACHI:
Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) was ordered by the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday to ensure a gas supply of 276 million cubic feet per day (MMFCD) to the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) as per the decision taken by the cabinet committee on energy crisis.
The counsel for petitioners told the SHC division bench, headed by Chief Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany, that the issue of gas supply to KESC had been set according to the minutes of meeting of the cabinet committee.
The petitioners include SITE Association of Industry, FB Area Association of Industry, North Karachi Association of Industry and three other proprietors of industrial units in Karachi.
The counsel stated that in the cabinet committee meeting, KESC was asked to ensure the generation totalling 1,350 megawatts (MW) every day, whereas SSGC was directed to guarantee 276 MMCFD of gas to KESC so it is able to generate sufficient electricity.
However, this arrangement between the KESC and SSGC was not being honoured by the latter, forcing KESC to generate electricity through furnace oil which is expensive and hence, increases the cost of production, he submitted.
With this submission, the counsel sought the issuance of a notice to the respondents, including federal petroleum secretary, SSGC, KESC, Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority and Sindh Chief Secretary and also appealed to the court to direct SSGC to honour the cabinet committee’s decision.
The bench put the Sindh deputy attorney-general and the respondents on notice for October 20, which is when another petition regarding the issue of unannounced power outages in Karachi has been fixed for hearing.
The petitioners, challenging the power outages in industrial and trading zones, maintained that Sindh is an exporter of natural gas and only 33 per cent of the country’s total production is consumed. Therefore, a reduction of natural gas supply to the country’s biggest city is illogical, they claimed.
They appealed to the court to declare that the federal ministry and SSGC are violating Article 148 of the Constitution by reducing gas supply to Sindh; to declare that petitioners shall not suffer on the account of any reduction of gas supply; to direct respondents to supply 276 MMCFD of gas; direct KESC to supply uninterrupted electricity to the industrial sector; and to restrain the subjection of power outages to individual petitioners and the industrial sector.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 9th, 2010.
Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) was ordered by the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday to ensure a gas supply of 276 million cubic feet per day (MMFCD) to the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) as per the decision taken by the cabinet committee on energy crisis.
The counsel for petitioners told the SHC division bench, headed by Chief Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany, that the issue of gas supply to KESC had been set according to the minutes of meeting of the cabinet committee.
The petitioners include SITE Association of Industry, FB Area Association of Industry, North Karachi Association of Industry and three other proprietors of industrial units in Karachi.
The counsel stated that in the cabinet committee meeting, KESC was asked to ensure the generation totalling 1,350 megawatts (MW) every day, whereas SSGC was directed to guarantee 276 MMCFD of gas to KESC so it is able to generate sufficient electricity.
However, this arrangement between the KESC and SSGC was not being honoured by the latter, forcing KESC to generate electricity through furnace oil which is expensive and hence, increases the cost of production, he submitted.
With this submission, the counsel sought the issuance of a notice to the respondents, including federal petroleum secretary, SSGC, KESC, Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority and Sindh Chief Secretary and also appealed to the court to direct SSGC to honour the cabinet committee’s decision.
The bench put the Sindh deputy attorney-general and the respondents on notice for October 20, which is when another petition regarding the issue of unannounced power outages in Karachi has been fixed for hearing.
The petitioners, challenging the power outages in industrial and trading zones, maintained that Sindh is an exporter of natural gas and only 33 per cent of the country’s total production is consumed. Therefore, a reduction of natural gas supply to the country’s biggest city is illogical, they claimed.
They appealed to the court to declare that the federal ministry and SSGC are violating Article 148 of the Constitution by reducing gas supply to Sindh; to declare that petitioners shall not suffer on the account of any reduction of gas supply; to direct respondents to supply 276 MMCFD of gas; direct KESC to supply uninterrupted electricity to the industrial sector; and to restrain the subjection of power outages to individual petitioners and the industrial sector.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 9th, 2010.