The National Assembly Committee on Petroleum has sought from the Ministry of Petroleum copies of agreements with the fertiliser company, Engro and power utility company, Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) to determine whether the said organsiations were receiving gas supply accordingly.
Attempts to hoodwink the committee by the Petroleum Ministry officials failed when the Acting Chairman Oil and Gas regulatory Authority (OGRA) Mansoor Muzaffar revealed that the fertiliser giant Engro was to get supplies from the Qadir Pur gas field only if its supplies enhanced by 100 mmcfd. However, its supplies have decline by 200 mmcfd during the last two years.
A meeting of the National Assembly Committee on Petroleum was held under the chairmanship of Sardar Talib Hassan Nakai. The issue of unjustified gas distribution was raised by the All Pakistan CNG Association Chairman Ghiyas Paracha, who was allowed by the committee to present his arguments. He said that gas was being illegally supplied to industries, as their agreement was only for 9 months and gas provision continued for 12 months.
Revealing that Punjab was witnessing a shortage of gas due to illegal practices of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited, he said that the company was diverting 100 mmcfd of its gas share to the engro plant in Sindh while it was losing 120 mmcfd gas due to rampart theft under its jurisdiction. He said that saving on both these counts would result in securing 220 mmcfd of gas that would improve the overall gas supply situation in Punjab. He said that gas rates were only increased for the CNG sector while the industrial sector was offered low tariffs. He said the CNG sector was helping save $4 billion in the fuel import bill of the country.
Additional Secretary Petroleum Ministry said that it was incorrect that gas was diverted from Punjab to the Engro plant in Sindh. He also denied that the industrial sector was getting supplies for 12 months. He maintained that all agreements of 9 months were being implemented for 9 months. Jamshed Dasti said that the agreements were never implemented and corrupt practices were common.
Senior PPP leader Nazar Muhammad Gondal asked Naeem Malik to explain why the unaccounted for gas (UFG) have jumped from 4 to 12 per cent. Financial analyst of Petroleum Ministry Hassan explained that OGRA had raised the benchmark level, from 4 per cent in 2009-10, to 7 per cent and then again reverted it back to 4 per cent in 2010-11. He said that the decision was challenged by companies in court and that ideally the benchmark should be between 9 to 10 per cent.
Countering their arguments, Gondal said that they know all the rules and procedures and they should tell the committee accurately what the ratio of gas theft was in the industrial sector instead of giving lame arguments. Chairman Nakai said that when the officials do not know the reasons of gas shortage and lack plans for curbing with gas theft, how they could implement a gas load management plan.
Mansoor Muzaffar revealed that the Engro plant was to get gas supply from SNGPL only if gas production from Qadir Pur gas field enhanced by 100 mmcfd. He said that the Petroleum Minister has decided that the plant would be getting gas from Sui Southern Company Limited in the future. Gondal said that it was established that the agreement with Engro was not to be made functional, but it was. He said that the copies of the agreement with Engro should be provided to the committee for a decision on the issue. He also demanded that the agreements for gas supplies to KESC should be given to committee as the company was being provided more supplies than what the agreement said. The Chairman asked officials to provide copies to members before the next meeting.