ISLAMABAD, Oct 9: Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said on Wednesday that neither the federal cabinet nor the prime minister had taken a final decision about shutdown of CNG stations in Punjab for three winter months.

During a meeting with a delegation of the All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) in his office, the minister informed it about the gas shortage in winter and said the CNG sector would have to face shortfalls during the season.

The delegation was told that the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) were expected to face a shortfall of more than 1.5 billion cubic feet gas daily (BCFD) in the coming winter. The shortfall last year was 1.1BCFD.

The massive shortfall of about 1.45BCFD will be faced by the SNGPL which suggested to the government to close all CNG stations in Punjab in November, December and January.

“There is a massive increase in gas consumption due to heating requirements in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during winters,” the SNGPL said in its proposal. “Priority has to be given to domestic consumers and the power sector.”

Compared to other provinces, Punjab is the largest consumer of gas but has negligible production of its own and gas is supplied to it from 34 sources.

About 80 per cent of the gas consumed in Punjab comes from Sindh and Balochistan and the rest from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

APCNGA’s supreme council chairman Ghyas Paracha who had led the delegation said the government’s move would badly affect the middle class, which was the main beneficiary of CNG, as well as the general public.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, he said: “There are 3.7 million vehicles running on CNG in the country and 2.1 million of them are in Punjab. Of the 3,400 CNG stations across the country, 2,300 are in Punjab.”

About the gas shortage, he said the government should take action against corrupt officials who were involved in stealing gas for industrial units.

Currently, CNG stations in Punjab are closed for four consecutive days in a week.

The SSGC has, however, decided to continue its policy of providing gas to CNG stations in Sindh for four days a week. But gas supply to fertiliser plants and KESC and Wapda will remained suspended during winter months.

Details of the gas supply and demand situation provided by the SSGC to the petroleum ministry stated that Sindh, being a gas-producing province, had the first right over the natural resource. Gas shortfall in the province is less than that of Punjab, but is estimated to increase by 50 per cent from last year.

“Gas shortfall in the SSGC system last year was about 300MMCFD, but this year it is estimated to be more than 450MMCFD,” a spokesman for the company told Dawn. “This is because of the rising demand by domestic and industrial consumers, but the most serious issue is gas depletion in the Zamzama field which will be zero by December.”

A final decision about CNG shutdown will be taken by the ECC and if it does so it will increase the demand for petrol in the country.

“The monthly petrol consumption currently stands at 300,000 tons which is likely to increase to 400,000 tons in case of CNG shutdown in Punjab,” said an official of petroleum ministry. “This will also have an impact on L/C lines of oil companies.”

In such a case, the official said, the companies would have to keep an eye on their financial arrangements to import furnace and petrol in the coming months. “This will have a load on foreign exchange reserves too as the import bill will reach $100 million from $50 million per month to meet the high petrol demand.”

The local petrol production is about 110,000 tons and the remaining demand is met though imports.