Stay orders costing heavily to keep gas infrastructure intact: SSGC
News Report
Stay orders are costing Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) heavily and affecting the company’s efforts to keep its infrastructure intact of gas intact.
Stay orders, whether it’s against disconnection or price increase are costing SSGC heavily and affecting the Company’s efforts to keep its gas infrastructure intact.
It says that stay orders are affected efforts to improve the network through robust rehabilitation and reinforcement. They also compromised the anti-gas theft efforts it is taking to curb line losses.
While taking strong exception towards the aggressive attitude of certain trade associations, SSGC said SSGC needs heavy funding.
It said that the company required heaving funding and healthy cash flows to achieve these major objectives.
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But sadly the industry’s practice of approaching courts on one pretext after another and seeking refuge under stay orders is ultimately impacting the Company’s development activities meant for its consumers
SSGC gas company takes strong exception
SSGC has taken strong exception towards the aggressive attitude of certain trade associations despite the government of Pakistan and SSGC’s efforts to mitigate the gas supply situation.
It pointed out that with the advent of winter as gas demand increased manifold, SSGC started implementing Cabinet Committee on Energy’s (CCOE) Load Management Plan by disconnecting non-export industrial and captive power connections.
SSGC, however, was able to suspend gas to only 225 industrial units due to stay orders from the industrial units, and ultimately there was the issue of line-pack and gas pressure.
Consequently, SSGC tried to implement a framework along with the industries to rotate industrial areas every 5th day to generate 90 mmcfd gas.
This arrangement did not work as industries continued to remain unhelpful and SSGC could only get 15 mmcfd available to the sector.
As a result, both the industry and domestic sector are in free flow as SSGC is unable to cut industry to create required pressure.
Moreover, with regards to the demand of industries that 280 mmcfd gas be brought back to Sindh, it must be understood that allocation of gas fields is the prerogative of the Federal Government, and interpretation of Article 158 is pending at the Supreme Court level.
SSGC which serves the franchise areas of Sindh and Balochistan is currently faced with a shortfall of around 240 MMCFD.
The phenomenal increase in space and water heating needs is one reason. Other reasons are the constant depletion in indigenous gas supplies of around 9-10% and the lack of any major gas discoveries in over a decade.
The Company is focused on ensuring sustained gas supplies to all its stakeholders but in the current situation, a more prudent and cooperative approach would have been a much better option.
