According to sources in the Petroleum Ministry, despite the fact that the country remained in the grip of serious energy crisis, which also forced major industries to shift their plants to other countries, especially Bangladesh, both gas utility companies over past four years inexplicably provided additional connections to the following consumers: 1.4 million domestic, 20,000 commercial and 3,000 industrial gas connections.
Sources said that SNGPL which is facing a more serious gas shortage relative to SSGCL provided 0.97 million domestic gas connections, 13,379 commercial and 1,693 industrial connections.
SSGC over the four years provided 0.397 million domestic gas connections, 5,944 commercial and 865 industrial gas connections. The SNGPL has laid 15,200 kilometres of pipelines during 2008-11 against a total planned network of 25,640 kilometres. The SNGPL has completed 1682 schemes so far, while work is in progress on 1,110 schemes. The company is also procuring engineering drawings and material for an additional 458 schemes.
A senior Petroleum Ministry official said that in 2011 the government announced an additional 800 Million Cubic Ft per Day (MMCFD). However it was unable to provide the necessary infrastructure to bring this additional gas into the system. Moreover, the official added had the country successfully commenced Iran-Pakistan (IP) and Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline projects there should be no gas and power loadshedding in the country at present. Under TAPI 1.325 BCFD gas would be imported from Turkmenistan and 750 MMCFD under IP from Iran.
He said that the government has also failed in initiating the import of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) for which the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) in 2011 has issued capacity allocation. "We should not rely on gas so heavily and there is a dire need of hydel power projects otherwise the country would face more serious energy crisis. At present, the share of natural gas in total energy mix is over 52 percent", he added.
A high official of SNGPL while talking to Business Recorder on the issue said that SNGPL has received one million applications for gas connections and department has the capacity to address 1,60,000 applications for ongoing fiscal year. He said that additional gas connections for commercial, domestic or industrial would mean an increase in demand. He said that as it is an election year politicians are pressurising the department for new connections.
Consumption of gas increased from the year 2000 onwards on a massive scale. Initially, domestic users were consuming 32 percent of the total gas supply, general industries 24.9 percent, the power sector 22 percent, commercial users 5 percent, and the CNG sector 4 percent. However, the ratio has now changed with domestic consumers consuming 26.07 percent, the power sector 15.9 percent, the CNG sector 11.85 percent, fertilisers 7.82 percent, and the commercial sector 4.75 percent.
Shortfall at present in SNGPL is 625 million cubic feet, which is likely to increase to a record level of 1000 cubic feet as winter sets in. Unaccounted for Gas (UfG) is another problem where nearly 450 MMCFD gas is being lost, which is sufficient to produce 2,600 Megawatts of electricity. Annually it costs Pakistan over Rs 16.5 billion.
To cut down the UfG losses the Ogra has directed the gas utilities to bring down UfG level at 5.46 percent, which would save around 225 MMCFD gas sufficient to meet the requirement of fertiliser sector. Captive Power plants are using 344 MMCFD which could produce 2,000MW of electricity but currently these plants are just producing around 800 to 1,000 MW of electricity which is far below their capacity.
Moreover in domestic as well as in commercial sector gas generators are being used by the consumers which also places the burden on gas supply-demand situation. According to rough estimates gas generators eat around 150-200 MMCFD. As per official documents available with Business Recorder the CNG sector is consuming 327 MMCFD gas sufficient to produce 1,800 Megawatts of electricity, fuelling 3.7 million vehicles and paying over 70 billion in the national kitty in the shape of different taxes.