Inquiry ordered against Sui Gas bosses

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday ordered an inquiry against managing directors (MDs) of the two state-run gas utilities including SNGPL and SSGCL for concealing information from the government and not informing it in time for possible shortages and malfunctioning of gas compressors.

Prime minister asked the minister petroleum division to hold inquiries and give the report in 72 hours.

Premier took this decision in an emergency meeting on the sudden increase of natural gas crisis in the country. Ministers for Finance, Petroleum and Power Division, PM’s advisers and principal accounting officers of the relevant ministries attended the meeting.

The premier was told that basically these two companies are responsible for this crisis, as they have not only kept secret the malfunctioning of various gas compressor plants in the country but also kept the government in the dark regarding the assessment of gas demand in December and did negligence in this regard.

A fact-finding committee was formed which would be headed by Ogra Chairperson Uzma Adil Khan, while Qazi Saleem Siddiqui (DG PC), Shahid Yousaf (DG Gas) and Imran Ahmad (DG LG) would be its members. They would conduct an inquiry against MDs of SNGPL and SSGCL and would report back to prime minister in three days.

A notification issued by the Petroleum Division said that the committee may call any expert witness to assist in the proceedings. The specific allegations against the top officials of these utilities are negligence in reporting of facts to the ministry or incompetence to deal with the operational issues, withholding of information from the government and overall systemic governance failure of SNGPL and SSGCL.

The prime minister was informed that currently for gas fields’ production in South is 1200MMCFD which is 80MMCFD less than same month of the last year. In north region, gas supplies from three fields namely Kunner, Pasaki and Gambat have been reduced by 50MMCFD from November 22, 2018, as a consequence of curtailment due to condensate storage problem at the fields and refineries.

Hence the shortfall is 130MMCFD. Additionally, about 100MMCFD gas is also consumed by the domestic sector from December onwards, due to the onset of winter.

The premier was informed that Karachi faced the shortage due to low gas production, while out of order gas compressors at Nawabshah and Saran, the north region faced the low pressure of gas and shortage of supply.

Neither did the SNGPL inform the government in time regarding the gas shortage in December and nor did the SSGC inform it regarding the out of order gas compressors.

However, the petroleum minister said that it is not loadshedding but gas shortage.

The premier was informed that for controlling the shortages, the already scheduled eight cargoes of RLNG is to reach Pakistan in time. Besides, efforts have been expedited for increasing local gas production.

Earlier, a news statement issued here by the Petroleum Division stated that to ensure supply to domestic consumers in view of the gas shortfall of 230MMCFD, notices were issued by SSGC to Captive Power Customers in October 2018 that it will not be able to provide gas from December to February and under their agreements, the customers should make alternative fuel arrangements.

SSGC also started reducing gas supply to power sector in the first phase and issued notices to Captive Power Customers (other than zero-rated) to curtail consumption by 50 percent. However, the Captive Power sector is reluctant to cooperate. As a result, SSGC is constrained to stop supply of gas to CNG stations from December 10, 2018 and Captive Power Units of general industry were served notices on December 11, 2018 for complete closure.

As soon as gas supplies from the fields are reclaimed and the situation is stabilised, gas supplies from the system will be restored. Although three compressor units of the SSGC system are out of service due to technical reasons moving RLNG up-country to Sui Northern however this has no impact on SSGC system.

Our correspondent from Lahore adds: Amjad Latif, Managing Director, Sui Gas Pipeline Ltd (SNGPL) has played down issues of gas shortage, saying there is no issue of less availability of natural gas in winter as Regadified Liquefied Natural Gas is to be used for meeting high demand.

Talking to reporters here on Wednesday, SNGPL MD said that as many as 400MMCFD RLNG being injected in gas network. He blamed use of compressors for creating gas shortage. He asked consumers not to use compressors as such customers will have to face strict action. He also asked consumers not to use heaters and water geysers continuously. To a question, he said 1,100mmcfd gas is being provided to domestic consumers.