Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) former Managing Director Abdul Rasheed Lone has said that natural gas demand has been increasing at a rapid pace of 100 mmcfd (million million cubic foot per day) per annum, while gas production is shrinking by 140 mmcfd annually.
This is widening the gap between demand and supply by 230 mmfcd every year. Addressing the members of Agriculture Journalists Association, he said that the total gap between demand and supply has reached around two billion mmcfd, mainly because of the increase in the demand of domestic consumers. He stressed that the government was responsible for the gas crisis as it had recklessly issued large number of gas connections to achieve political motives. Lone said that most gas fields in the south had completed their age and their production was degenerating every year.
However, he tried to give hope that the government, especially Dr Asim Hussain, was trying hard to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) and it was expected that LNG would be available on the system in the next 12-14 months. He indicated that Pakistan Iran gas pipeline was another option, which would take around three years to complete.