ISLAMABAD: Expressing inability to provide natural gas to transport, industry and even domestic consumers in four winter months, the government announced on Monday that a ban on new gas schemes was being lifted.

Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said at a meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Petroleum that the government would stop supplying gas to CNG stations in Punjab next year.

He said the sector would be able to sell CNG only if it was able to import liquefied natural gas, adding that even the imported gas would be 35 per cent cheaper than petrol. He said it had become difficult to meet the demand of the residential sector and, therefore, it would not be possible to provide gas to CNG and industrial sectors for four months.

Also read: Awaiting LNG imports

Mr Abbasi said the government had ensured uninterrupted supply of electricity to industries, instead of gas because of its shortage.

The meeting presided over by Bilal Ahmed Virk was informed by Petroleum Secretary Abid Saeed that the prime minister had lifted the ban on new gas schemes and now the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority would increase gas tariff to finance these schemes.

The extension of natural gas network despite the shortage had been a difficult political choice for previous governments which kept on increasing the residential and commercial connections to woo voters. But now non-availability of gas is triggering violent protests.

An official said the new gas schemes would also result in higher gas price because existing consumers would be paying the cost of developing infrastructure for new politically-motivated schemes.

The new connections allowed by the PPP government had increased gas demand by about 512 MMCFD.

Because of that, Ogra had banned new gas schemes saying that existing consumers had the first right to gas supply and licensed utilities were bound to supply gas to existing consumers before extending connections to new schemes.

Then prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also lifted the ban on new gas schemes to meet demands of parliamentarians ahead of elections.

The petroleum secretary said the prime minister office had also given a go-ahead for completion of schemes on which 50 per cent expenditure had been made in various constituencies allowed by the previous government and Ogra also consented because otherwise this money would have been wasted.

Mr Abbasi said the government had allowed installation of power plants at the mouth of 46 gas fields which would increase power generation by 1,000MW.

The management of the Sui Southern Gas Company told the committee that the Supreme Court had declared the Implementation Agreement of August 2003 for supply of liquefied petroleum gas between SSGC and M/s JJVL as ‘null and void’ in December last year.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2014