ECC to allocate 10 MMCFD gas to SSGC

Aftab Ahmed
Islamabad: The ECC of the Cabinet on Friday will approve the allocation of 10 MMCFD gas from Mitha and Bitro fields to SSGCL. The price of the gas will be as per the applicable Petroleum Policy, said a summary.

The Mitha and Bitro Fields are located in Sindh Province, in District Ghotki (Mubarak Block) and District Khairpur (Latif Block), respectively.

Mitha is being operated by M/s UEP Alpha Limited with 45% shareholdings in a joint venture with ENI Pakistan Limited with 30% share and Government Holding Private Limited with 25 % shares while Bitro is being operated by UEP Beta SmbH formally known as OMV with 33.4% shares in a JV with ENI Pakistan Limited with 33.3 shares and Pakistan Petroleum Limited with 33.3 % shares.

As per the provisions of Petroleum Policy 2012, the Rules 2013 and the Petroleum Concession Agreement (PCA) signed between the Government of Pakistan and the gas producers/Sellers/E&P Company, upon the discovery of gas, the gas producer have to request the government to purchase the share of pipeline specification gas through a nominated buyer.

M/s Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) is the nominated buyer for the purchase of gas in respect of gas province made in Sindh and Balochistan. Based on the request of the gas producer, the gas is allocated by the Federal Government. The Government nominated buyer pays the price of gas per the applicable Petroleum Policy.

The Petroleum Division as per the ECC decision is authorized to allocate gas to either of the utility company during an extended well-tested period (EWT) which is a pre-commerciality period. At the request of UEPL, gas from Mitha and Bitro has been allocated to SSGC during EWT. Now the EWT has ended and production has entered to commercial phase, therefore, M/s UEPL has requested to formally allocate the gas from Mitha and Bitro fields to SSGCL.

The regular Exploration and production Sector i.e. Directorate General of Petroleum Concession (DGPC), Petroleum Division has approved the declaration of commercially (DOC), Field Development Plan (FDP) and granted Development Production Lease (DPL) for the subject of discoveries for a period of three to five years.

Since the wellhead/gas produced in Sindh, is located in the franchise area of SSGCL and the gas was injected into the SSGCL system during the EWT period, Petroleum Division, therefore, proposes the formal allocation of gas under commercial production from Mitha and Bitro fields.