ISLAMABAD: Gas consumers of all categories across the country are currently facing severe gas shortage while the government has so far remained failed to bring an end to the menace of gas theft, it was reliably learnt on Tuesday.
According to documents available with Pakistan Today/Profit, a total 2841 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) gas has so far been stolen from the main pipeline in the country during the ongoing financial year 2021-22 which is more than the total gas supply of one-day to all the gas consumer categories of the country.
As per details, approximately total 1,918 MMCFD gas worth of Rs 1,692 million has been stolen in the jurisdiction of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) while around 923 MMCFD gas worth approximately Rs 641 million has been stolen in the jurisdiction of Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) during the ongoing FY 2021-22.
Moreover, more than 142,000 cases of gas theft reported in SNGPL while 16,617 cases of gas theft registered in SSGCL in FY 2021-22.
It is also learnt from the document that total 44 gas theft cases of industry consumers have been registered in the jurisdiction of SNGPL who stole 169 MMCFD gas worth Rs352 million while 1,484 cases of gas theft of commercial consumers have been registered who stole 89 MMCFD gas worth Rs155 million and 687 cases of gas theft have been reported of special domestic consumers who stole 98 MMCFD gas worth Rs91 million. Similarly, 139,589 cases of gas theft of domestic category of gas consumers have been registered who stole 1,343 MMCFD gas worth Rs 734 million and 221 cases gas theft of un-registered consumers have been registered who stole 218MMCFD gas worth Rs 360 million the jurisdiction of SNGPL in FY 2021-22.
As per document, total 15 cases of gas theft of industry consumers have been registered who stole 77.6 MMCFD gas worth Rs121.5 million, while 258 gas theft cases of commercial category of gas consumers have been registered who stole 69.2 MMCFD gas worth Rs 116.5 million and 525 gas theft cases of special domestic gas consumers have been registered who stole 61.0 MMCFD gas worth Rs 124.1 million in the jurisdiction of SSGCL in FY 2021-22. Moreover, 9,047 gas theft cases of domestic consumers have been registered who stole 381.5 MMCFD gas worth Rs104.8 million and 6,772 gas theft cases of un-registered consumers have been registered who stole 334 MMCFD gas worth Rs 175.1 million in the jurisdiction of SSGCL in FY 2021-22.
It is pertinent to mention that gas theft is continued in the jurisdiction of sui gas companies i-e SNGPL & SSGCL while the gas consumers across the country are found complaining about the severe gas shortage being faced by them amid the winter season.
Besides, the indigenous gas production declined by over six percent to 2,006 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) against consumption increased by over five percent to reach to 3,884 MMCFD in fiscal year (FY) 2020-21.
The fact was revealed in a report released by the Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) titled “State of Regulated Petroleum Industry for fiscal year 2020-21.” The report contains data regarding growth of mid and downstream petroleum sector, specially, Oil, gas, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Re-gasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) etc.
During FY 2020-21, indigenous gas production declined by over 6 percent to 2,006 MMCFD from 2,138 MMCFD as compared to FY 2019-20, whereas gas consumption increased by over 5 percent, reaching at 3,884 MMCFD from 3,683 MMCFD.
The country has a huge network of 13,768km of transmission and 191,478km of distribution gas pipelines providing natural gas to domestic, industrial, commercial and transport sectors. The gas utility companies (SNGPL & SSGCL) have expanded their transmission and distribution network to cater to the demand of their new consumers.
The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) have extended their transmission network by 37 Km and 17km respectively during FY 2020-21.
Similarly, SNGPL extended its distribution network by 7,141 Km and SSGCL by 929 Km during the same period.
SNGPL has connected 371,618 new consumers during FY 2020-21 reaching 7.41 million total consumers on its network. Whereas, SSGCL has added 95,436 new connections making a total of 3.21 million consumers on its network. Overall, there were 10.62 million natural gas consumers in the country by the end of financial year 2020-21.
The main consumer of natural gas was power sector, consuming over 30 percent (1,305 MMCFD), followed by domestic sector with 20 percent (862 MMCFD), fertilizer 19 percent (829 MMCFD), General Industry 8 percent (365 MMCFD) and captive power 5 percent (203 MMCFD) of the total gas consumed during FY 2020-21. In Province-wise gas consumption, Punjab’s share was 52 percent (1,426 MMCFD), Sindh 39 percent (1,052 MMCFD), KP 7 percent (190 MMCFD) and Baluchistan 2 percent (64 MMCFD) of total gas consumption during the year under review.
Natural gas supply during the year was 4,172 MMCFD compared to 4,050 MMCFD last year. Mari, Sui, Uch, Qadirpur, Kandhkot and Maramzai etc. were major gas fields. Out of total gas supplies 1,153 MMCFD as against 1,057 MMCFD last year, was supplied by the gas fields/producers directly to their consumers and the remaining through gas utility companies.
Sindh’s share in total gas supply has declined by 11 percent from 1,344 MMCFD in FY 2019-20 to 1,192 MMCFD in FY 2020-21, Punjab’s share declined by 9 percent from 91 MMCFD to 83 MMCFD and Balochistan by 1 percent from 335 MMCFD to 333 MMCFD. Whereas the share of KP has increased by 8 percent from 368 MMCFD to 398 MMCFD during the same period. The share of RLNG has increased by 13 percent from 857 MMCFD to 969 MMCFD. In overall gas supplies, the share of Sindh has declined from 45 to 40 percent, KP from 13 to 12 percent, whereas the share of Balochistan and Punjab remain steady at 11 and 3 percent respectively. The share of RLNG has increased from 29 to 33 percent during the period under review.
