September 24, 2006	Sunday	Sha'aban 30, 1427

KARACHI, Sept 23: Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) will apply for downward revision of its tariff in the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) as and when oil prices will go down.

SSGCL Managing Director Munawar Baseer Ahmed in a meeting with the office-bearers of the Site Association of Industry (SAI) here on Saturday said that the gas rates were linked with international oil prices which had already gone down considerably.He said the last upward revision was made on the basis of oil prices at $62 a barrel and hoped that world oil prices would further go down in the coming days. “Gas tariff consists of 84 per cent gas prices and the rest covers administrative and other costs”.

Replying to a query of SAI Chairman Ameen Bandukda about 45.5pc hike in gas rates during last two years, Mr Baseer said that Ogra made revisions in the prices and the association should take up the matter with Ogra.

“Personally, I am against the frequent increases in gas tariff,” he added.

Gas is an indigenous product of Pakistan but its prices are linked with international prices to attract foreign companies to invest in oil and gas exploration and get proper return on their investment, he explained.

The SSGCL MD said that exploring of oil and gas required huge investment and local companies neither had finances nor had capacity to invest in exploration of oil and gas.

The SSGCL has made a plan to set up the country’s first LNG project at an estimated cost of $500 million on BOO basis at Port Qasim or Karachi Port, Mr Baseer disclosed.

The company, he added, has also formulated a $45 billion comprehensive five-year gas development plan under which it would increase 400 MCFG supply to Karachi and complete the ongoing as well as new projects.

Baseer said that there were around 3,000 industrial, 19,938 commercial and 18,37,495 domestic consumers on SSGC network, whereas in revenue share 45 per cent came from industrial and commercial consumers, 45 per cent from captive power plants and one per cent from domestic consumers.

On the question of low gas pressure and delay in rectification, he said some times it happened due low-pressure in pipelines from the sources at Sui. However, it is their prime objective that the gas pressure remains constant and their consumers especially industries do not suffer unnecessarily, he assured.

He said that the company had not imposed ban on self-generation and was granting permission on case-to-case basis.

Discussing the reserves, depletion and alternative supply of gas, the SAI chairman said that the gas reserves of the country were fast depleting and the estimates earlier made that we had sufficient reserves to last up to the first quarter of this century stood falsified.

“Now there is hectic activity to procure natural gas from all available resources,” he added.