After a lengthy debate, the Petroleum Ministry and stakeholders agreed on a makeshift agreement, under which gas supply to CNG and the industrial sectors would be cut off for three days a week in Punjab during the month of November. Petroleum Secretary Ejaz Chaudhry told reporters that the meeting decided that the shortage of natural gas would be equally shared by all sectors, adding that there would be no gas load shedding for CNG stations from November 4 to 11 during the Eidul Adha holidays in Punjab.
After Eid, gas supply to CNG and industrial sectors would be cut for three days every week in the rest of the month. The meeting decided to continue supply of gas on rotational basis to two of the four fertilizer plants operating in Punjab. Similarly two IPPs would also get gas supply while the other two would have to use diesel for power generation. The APTMA chairman agreed to the three-days-a-week gas load management schedule in view of the current gas shortage. The CNG association expressed reservations over the proposed plan but agreed to conduct meetings with the SNGPL to examine the situation.
Three-day gas outages after Eid
