- Minister says gas swap between SSGPL and SNGPL legal, LNG will be supplied through direct lines from November
- Says local supplies would only cater to domestic demand in winters, tells others to switching to other fuels
Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abassi said on Monday that the allegations hurled by the Sindh government against the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project and federal government were “baseless and shameless” as the provincial government was taken into confidence at the meetings of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) and Interprovincial coordination committee.
“It is more of a politicking attempt. All the reservations of Sindh chief minister were addressed in CCI meetings. Asif Zardari was personally briefed by the prime minister and I have thrice briefed the Sindh Finance Minister Murad Ali Shah on the issue,” Abassi said, adding that LNG was being imported under the policy drafted by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government.
“They should have presented evidence if there was corruption in the process. Everything was done legally. We are ready to face all kind of investigations,” the petroleum minister said, adding that there was no corruption in LNG imports and setting up of LNG terminal.
“The gas of Sindh province is mainly used in the province. The LNG supplies are injected in the Sui Southern Gas Company system and same quantity from the company’s system is injected in the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline system. This kind of gas swap is legally done everywhere. However from this November, LNG will be supplied through dedicated lines,” he added.
The minister said that there was no restriction of setting up thermal or wind power plants in the province. “The last seven years performance of the PPP is self-evident and reason for less investment in the province.”
When the minister was asked about gas supplies in winters, he said that the local supplies would only cater to the domestic requirements. “There will be no gas left after supplying to the domestic consumers. Other sectors could meet their requirements switching to other fuels.”
On the dismissal of SNGPL MD, the minister said Arif Hameed was granted another term as it was thought that he had the experience to bring the company out of the crisis. However, he failed to provide the leadership and vision to turn around the company.
About LPG regulation, he said that a new LPG policy was ready and would be forwarded to the CCI for approval as the government has sought powers to regulate the price of LPG. The new policy would help bring down the small LPG cylinder price to about Rs 850.
