PESHAWAR, Jan 26: The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) has rejected the Awami National Party’s stand viz-a-viz suspension of gas to the NWFP.

In a press release, issued on Friday, ANP information secretary had termed as unjustified the suspension of gas supply to the NWFP in the backdrop of destruction of supply lines of the Sui field. Besides, the ANP had said that the gas consumers of the NWFP were being charged more than those in Punjab.

Clarifying its position in response to ANP stand, the SNGPL, in a press release faxed to Dawn on Saturday, observed that “gas is supplied to all the eight regions of the SNGPL, stretching from Bahawalpur in the south to Abbottabad in the north through an integrated transmission system which received gas from fields in Balochistan, Sindh and Punjab provinces.

“Gas is supplied on the basis of demand, geographical location and technical efficiency. No field is dedicated to a province or any region as this is an integrated national network. The idea of supplying gas from any one source to any one province would be equivalent to saying that electricity from a particular power house be supplied to a particular province.”

Gas from the Potohar fields located in Punjab, said the press release, was supplied to Abbottabad, Peshawar and Islamabad regions.

The total production from Potohar fields, it added, was approximately 90 million million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) whereas the peak consumption of the three regions was 310 mmcfd.

“There is no logical reason according to which gas from the Potohar can be supplied to the NWFP or any other province,” maintained the SNGPL, rejecting the impression given by the ANP information secretary.

The SNGPL also rejected the ANP assertion viz-a-viz price. In this respect, the press release said: “The matter regarding the price being paid by consumers in the NWFP has also been completely misunderstood.

“The price of gas is based on BTU value and is uniform throughout the country and (therefore) the consumers of the NWFP are paying a higher price.”