ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was informed on Wednesday that about 40 per cent of the gas lost by the Sui Southern Gas Company Ltd (SSGC) and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) was attributable to theft.

The prime minister directed the authorities concerned to take strict action against those involved in gas and electricity theft.

“Leakage from the systems is unacceptable because the government has now provided a legal framework for stringent action against electricity and gas theft,” he told a meeting at the Prime Minister House.

During a briefing on the electricity crisis, Mr Sharif said that minimum loadshedding should be carried out to save consumers from inconvenience in summer. He instructed the authorities concerned to speed up a dues recovery drive and submit a report to him within a week.

The prime minister called for strict action against the heads of all inefficient power distribution companies.

He was informed of the proposed loadshedding schedule for the next four months.

The meeting was informed that the SNGPL and SSGC were facing gas losses of up to 375 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd). About 80 per cent of the unaccounted for gas (UFG) was attributable to leakages and theft, and 20 per cent to meter errors.

In 2012-13, the SNGPL had UFG of 210 mmcfd (12 per cent of the gas in the network) and the SSGC 115 mmcfd (10 per cent).

Officials of the ministry of petroleum and natural resources told the meeting of the measures taken to control gas losses and theft.

The short-term measures included theft control, pressure profiling, leak rectification and replacement of defective meters. The medium and long-term measures included segmentation of distribution networks, pipeline rehabilitation, improvement of measurement accuracy and measures to protect the networks, they said.