LAHORE: Following a major technical fault of leakage during
the newly-constructed LNG terminal’s commissioning phase at Port Qasim,
the shortage in the province started worsening on Thursday, forcing the
SNGPL to withdraw the indigenous gas from the industry and divert it to
the domestic sector that has been facing extremely low pressure for the
last many days.
The supply to some power plants in Punjab
has also been curtailed to facilitate the domestic sector, according to
official sources.
“Since the domestic sector demand is
gradually growing due to winter and there is also no supply of the
additional RLNG (600MMCFD), we finally withdrew the system gas [local
gas] from the industry. But we will keep supplying Regasified Liquefied
Natural Gas to the industry that is already using it,” SNGPL Managing
Director Amjad Lateef told Dawn.
SNGPL suspends supply to industry, diverts gas to domestic sector
“We have also curtailed over 150MMCFD of RLNG supply to
three major power plants in Punjab - Kapco, Rousch and Nandipur. We will
not be able to give them gas till receipt of additional 600MMCFD of
RLNG from the new terminal, which has developed a fault and that may
take eight to 10 days for rectification,” he said.
The situation won’t improve until the company receives the 600MMCFD [of RLNG], he said.
According
to Pakistan Gas Port Consortium Limited (PGPC), which built the new LNG
terminal, the situation would improve soon, as supplies to the national
system would recommence by Friday (Dec 8).
“Operations
at the recently inaugurated terminal had been suspended for a few days
after a leakage developed in an insulation joint connecting the PGPC
system to the connecting pipeline infrastructure. The leak was promptly
stopped, the joint replaced, and the system is being repressurised.
There are no faults with the jetty and marine works or the Floating
Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) or the sub-sea section of the
pipeline and there has been no blast,” reads a statement issued by a
spokesperson for the Lahore-based PGPC head office.
“The
terminal represents an investment of about half a billion dollars by
PGPC in the jetty and marine works, Norway’s BW Group in the brand new
and state-of-the-art FSRU, and Fauji Oil Terminal & Distribution
Company Limited (FOTCO) in the pipeline infrastructure from the jetty to
the national gas grid. The terminal was inaugurated on Nov 20 and
received its first LNG cargo on Nov 24,” he said.
On the
other hand, Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) has expressed
concern over the suspension of system gas under quota regime and supply
of [high-priced] RLNG to the export-oriented sector in Punjab. This
would further add to the [high] cost of doing business and would hamper
the export pace. “We express serious concern at switching of system gas
to RLNG supply for textile industry in Punjab on a [lame] excuse of drop
in mercury,” said PTEA Chairman PTEA Shaiq Jawed in a statement.
He
condemned the government’s indifferent attitude towards the
Punjab-based textile industry as “it is already facing a serious blow
due to high cost of doing business.”
Meanwhile, many
parts of Punjab, especially Lahore and adjoining districts, have been
facing either low pressure or no gas for the last many days. In several
[tail-end] localities, women and children continued holding protests in
streets.
“Since the start of winter, we have almost no
gas. We are using LPG cylinders to keep our kitchen and geysers
operative. But we are worried as to why the bill is going up while there
is no gas,” Shahzad, a resident of A-1 sector (Township, Lahore), told
this reporter.
Talking to Dawn, SNGPL Lahore regional
chief Mr Qaisar Masood said the department was promptly responding to
complaints related to low gas pressure.
“But the
shortage of gas is not the problem alone but also the compressors being
used by the consumers. That is why we have launched a crackdown on
consumers. And within last three days or so, we have captured 170
consumers [allegedly] involved in using compressors,” he said.
