Commuters of Islamabad and Rawalpindi called for a speedy solution to the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) sector’s crises as it was affecting them greatly.
The Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) had closed the Qadirpur Gas Field for the plant’s annual maintenance and repair for seven days, necessitating CNG filling stations’ closure for a week.
The Qadirpur Gas Field which usually supplied 400 MMCFD (million cubic feet per day) gas to the National Gas Network was providing only 125 to 130 MMCFD during its maintenance period.
“We have to face numerous problems including unavailability of public transport and overcharging by taxi drivers who are exploiting the situation. Travelling on foot is also impossible given the intense heat,” said Naqibullah, a private sector employee. He said that the solution lay in establishing Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) filling stations across the country and in importing Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), steps to be taken with all stakeholders on board.
Naqibullah opined that there were several available solutions and the authorities should weigh all facets of a decision to effectively relieve the consumers. “The maintenance has been timed unwisely; people are facing severe issues as they cannot afford to run their vehicles on petrol, and the public transport sector has also suffered. The repair work should have been done at summer’s onset”, said Ehsanullah, a university employee. “Our land is gifted with rich natural resources but our leaders have failed to explore this wealth for the masses’ prosperity and development,” he regretted.
The All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) has said ending gas load shedding for CNG would help the government save Rs 600 billion annually, of which Rs 400 billion would be spent on petrol and Rs 200 billion on transportation and inflation. It said that despite unprecedented gas load shedding last year, the masses saved Rs 270 billion in fuel expenses alone.
According to the billing data of the Sui Southern Gas Corporation (SSGC) and the Sui Northern Gas Private Limited (SNGPL) for April 2013, the CNG sector used 256 mmcfd of gas of which Punjab used 129 mmcfd gas, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 63 mmcfd, while Sindh and Baluchistan consumed 64 mmcfd.
The association’s statement added that the CNG sector was using six per cent of the total national output of 4200 mmcfd, but at the same time it was contributing Rs 32 billion per year in subsidies to the power, fertiliser and industrial sector.
Further, the statement said that If load shedding stopped, the subsidy would jump to Rs 75 billion and discontinuing gas supply to CNG outlets would burden the public by an additional Rs 600 billion annually.
The data said that the CNG sector was running at optimum efficiency while private power plants were achieving 29 per cent efficiency at best.
