15 January 2005	Saturday	04 Zilhaj 1425

PESHAWAR, Jan 14: The Gurgury gas field, situated in Karak district of NWFP, is expected to start supplying gas on commercial basis in a week's time, helping the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) to partially resolve the problem of gas shortage in the Frontier province, according to official sources.

"Supply of gas from the Gurgury field will help the SNGPL to sort out the problem to some extent," said a Peshawar-based senior officer of the company. Scores of industrial units using natural gas as fuel for carrying out their manufacturing operations have witnessed their supply stopped during the last few days.

While the industrialists' associations have described the move as an act of discrimination against the industrial sector of the NWFP "designed to benefit Punjab's industrialists," the SNGPL has cited increase in consumption of gas by domestic consumers as the main factor behind the supply cut.

The SNGPL officials say the company had to take recourse to load management because of increase in consumption of gas by domestic consumers in the northern parts of the country which have been in the grip of severe cold for the last so many days.

However, officials express the hope that the situation would 'partially' improve in the near future when supply from the Gurgury gas field's first well commences.

"We are expecting to start receiving 35 million cubic feet (mcf) per day in a week's time when the first of Gurgury field's wells would start supplying gas to our network," said Mr Imdad Hussain, general manager of SNGPL, Peshawar, when contacted on Thursday.

According to official sources, the gas reserves found in Gurgury, district Karak, some 133km from Peshawar, would be sufficient for 12 years and initially 35 mcf gas per day would be supplied from the first of its four wells which the producer - MOL, a Hungarian company - plans to set up.

The producer, according to official sources, has projected to increase its daily supplies to 150 mcf once all the four wells become operational. Officials said that work on the second well was also nearing completion and would help the SNGPL augment its system.

Mr Hussain said that the gas supply position in the Frontier province would also get improved on completion of additional lines being laid to augment the SNGPL's distribution network in the NWFP.

"Work on this project is also expected to be completed in the near future and its addition to the distribution system would certainly improve things," said Mr Hussain, while referring to his company's gas load management plan that has badly affected the gas-fired industrial units in various industrial estates of the NWFP.

Suspension of gas supply to industrial units, according to business circles, has badly hit the Gadoonamanzai industrial estate in Swabi district, Hayatabad Industrial estate and Small Industrial Estate in Peshawar district and Hattar industrial estate in Haripur district.

Official circles said that apart from rise in consumption by domestic consumers, increase in the number of cars driven by compressed natural gas (CNG) and establishment of a large number of Tandoors using natural gas as fuel were also some of the factors contributing to supply cut.

Domestic consumers of gas, according to sources, have also been experiencing shortage of gas. Several localities go without gas for hours every day. "In addition to the industrial units, domestic consumers have also been hit hard by the gas load management plan," said Najam Ali, a resident of Peshawar cantonment.