Stopping short of recommending an outright ban on the supply of gas to the industrial and CNG sectors for at least two months, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Petroleum on Thursday asked the government to implement in letter and spirit gas supply agreements with different sectors and take measure to reduce massive gas theft.
Officials of the Petroleum Ministry and Sui companies wanted the committee to give recommendations for an outright ban on gas supply to industrial and CNG sectors. However, intervention from Jamshed Dasti of PPP and Barjees Tahir of PML-N stopped the move as they demanded that the committee should be briefed on steps taken to implement the legal agreements on gas supply with the industrial sector and measures to control the rampant gas theft.
Jamshed Dasti wanted to know the reasons why Sui Northern Gas Company Limited (SNGPL) could not stop gas supply to a factory of Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani khar even during the current extreme shortage period. He also wanted the officials to name the person who was pressurising SNGPL to divert gas supply to the industrial sector from the CNG sector. Questioning the competence of officials, Barjees Tahir said they were all highly educated from internationally renowned universities and were experienced enough to present the required steps to avert the crisis. He said they were not bringing the complete picture before the committee and just wanted a recommendation which they were not bound to follow. He said officials were involved in illegally granting licenses to 500 CNG stations during the last four years even though Prime Minister had imposed a ban on issuing new licenses due to gas shortages.
Chairman Talib Hassan Nakai also supported their demand and said that more thinking was required on finding the solution. He also stressed that the ministry should take steps to create awareness among the people about the need for gas conservation in the presence of low supply. Rana Afzal Hussain of PML-N and Shahnaz Shaikh of PML-Q demanded a complete ban on the supply of gas to industries and CNG sector and demanded parity in CNG, petrol and diesel prices. They said rampant theft in CNG sector was resulting due to the involvement of the staff of sui companies. They stressed that the political parties should dissuade from making it a political issue. Petroleum Minister Dr Asim Hussain said that time had come to take some tough decisions to end gas demand. He said they have proposed to the Finance Ministry that Rs10 per litre petroleum levy on petrol should be reduced as prices of CnG were set to rise to Rs79 per kg from next month. This, he said will facilitate in reaching an equilibrium in supply and demand, as it will reduce the demand for gas otherwise there would be no option other than curtailing gas supply. He said riots in Faisalabad were uncalled for, as industries have supply agreements for only 9 months. They were accommodated by being provided gas supply during the three month curtailment period for the last three years however it was not their right.
Secretary Petroleum Ejaz Chaudhary said they faced embarrassment before the committee on the slow pace of oil and gas exploration but there were many hindrances. Giving an example, he said an exploration company wanted to do an aerial survey of kharaan block in Balochistan but it was disallowed by the Ministry of Defence. He asked whether the survey could be done on a donkey in the restive province. He said the fertiliser sector was being provided a cross subsidy of Rs44 billion per annum.
MD SNGPL Arif Hameed said that the gas pressure on the company network reduced to 750 pound square inch (psi) on December 27 and if it had decreased to 730 psi then the gas compressors would have been tripped and the rehabilitation would have taken two weeks to complete. He said
orders for physical disconnection of 4200 industrial units in Punjab were given and 2060 were already disconnected, while that of foreign minister would be disconnected by this evening. When Nazar Gondal of PPP asked him to control massive theft, he said that SNGPL was faced with a theft of 4 percent after a reduction of one percent that helped save the company a loss of Rs2 billion. In reality however, both the sui companies have unaccounted for gas
(UFG) loss of 12 per cent that roughly translates to Rs24 billion per annum. Internationally accepted UFG benchmark for gas utility companies is 5 percent.
He said the company had sacked a GM, 5 officers and 18 staff members while investigations were underway against 106 more employees. When the members asked for names he said that he did not have the names with him but would be submitting them to the committee secretariat.
Its outright ridiculous to see how our so-called 'parliamentarians' argue the right to gas out. There are four sources of demand here: Households, Industry, Power sector, CNG sector. Who's supply should be cut now?
Frankly, apart from CNG each is vital. Set a priority, make a plan, and stick by it. Granted its easier said than done, but the requirements are such. Don't see it happening anytime soon though.
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