KARACHI – An 18-inch high pressure gas pipeline of Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) was blown up near Hajano village in the Tangwani area of district Kashmore, suspending the gas supply to the entire Balochistan for at least three days. A serious incident of insurgency occurred at 6am on Thursday, near Hajano village in the Tangwani area of the district Kashmore about 34 kilometers downstream from Sui, south of the gas field and close to Balochistan and Sindh border.
As a result of the blast by unidentified people, an 18-inch-diameter SSGC gas pipeline was greatly damaged. The incident was caused by an explosive device, tearing a 40-foot-long pipeline. The pipeline was carrying 110 million cubic feet gas daily from the Sui gas field to SSGC’s pipeline system at Shikarpur for its onward transmission to the entire Balochistan. Following the incident, the affected section was separated immediately. At the same time, an emergency response team rushed to the site from Shikarpur to inspect the situation. According to sources in SSGC, the company would, however, manage to keep supplying gas to at least domestic consumers while commercial as well as industrial consumers and CNG stations would face the problem for a few days.
Even domestic consumers, they said, would be facing around 30 MMCFD gas shortages, causing the low pressure to the entire province. They said, though the management was trying to restore the fault on urgent basis, it would take time. “The SSGC is managing the smooth and uninterrupted gas supply to Balochistan, but a shortfall of about 30 mcfd would be faced as a result of the incident. The gas supply will be curtailed to all customers in Balochistan, except domestic ones, for two to three days,” they added.
