Govt springs into action as gas crisis deepens.

Byline: Khalid Hasnain

LAHORE -- With a sudden drop in temperature across the country, the ongoing gas crisis deepened on Sunday as the total shortfall surged to 600 million metric cubic feet a day (MMCFD) that may compel the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) to curtail the supply to sectors other than domestic consumers.

The shortfall has affected not only the supply to domestic consumers but also to the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) sector for the past several days.

Addressing a press conference in Sialkot on Sunday, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan told the media that the government had directed the authorities concerned to ensure gas supply to households even at the cost of the CNG sector.

Both the gas utilities and the federal government have done little over the years to further explore natural gas, check gas theft and leakage, import the required liquefied natural gas (particularly in case of Sindh), and curb use of compressors by consumers despite the ever-increasing demand and repeated warnings by weather experts to Pakistan about effects of climate change.

Feeding Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the SNGPL faces over 200MMCFD gas shortfall.

According to a senior official of the SNGPL, gas theft in KP and various sectors in Punjab is a major reason behind the shortfall.

'Half of the total volume of the gas being produced in KP (400MMCFD) is being stolen by the people of the areas close to gas fields. They have their own networks to steal gas, claiming it a matter of their right as the gas is being extracted from their areas,' he said.

The official said: 'The gas available with us ranges between 950 and 970MMCFD. We are also receiving around 1,020MMCFD RLNG (Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas) in our system.

'But the demand is rising fast, forcing us to stop gas supply to the industry and the CNG sector to accommodate about six million domestic consumers in Punjab and KP.'

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