LAHORE: The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) is all set to receive an additional Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (up to 600MMCF) on a daily basis soon as various processes to add it to the system are underway at the newly-built LNG terminal at Port Qasim.

The additional gas supply will enable the company to bridge the gap between demand and supply in Punjab.

At present, according to a senior officer, the SNGPL system is getting 2,000MMCFD -- 1,400MMCFD indigenous gas and 600MMCFD RLNG.

“We will soon have additional RLNG supplies (up to 600MMCFD daily) within next three to four days. The ship carrying sufficient LNG has already arrived at Karachi Port and the process to handle, process and regasify the liquid gas is under way at the new terminal constructed by a private company,” SNGPL Managing Director Amjad Lateef told Dawn on Wednesday.

The first LNG vessel carrying 140,000 ton gas had berthed alongside the the Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) at the Pakistan Gasport Consortium (PGPC) owned LNG terminal at Port Qasim (Karachi) on Nov 24.

“The commissioning tests started immediately. And supply to the national gas system will increase by 600mmcfd soon,” said an official source in the PGPC. “It is a milestone for Pakistan which will ensure that there is almost no gas loadshedding in the country this winter and afterwards,” he claimed.

He said since the next ship carrying more LNG would reach Port Qasim on Dec 6, the LNG already reached on Nov 24 had been shifted to the FSRU for further processes leading to injecting the same into the system of the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and then the SNGPL. “The whole process to regasify and send it into the system may take 10 days. So, hopefully, Punjab will start having additional gas supply by Dec 9,” he added.

According to the SNGPL MD, with additional supplies the system would have more than 2,600MMCFD that would be sufficient to meet the total demand. “After some time, the LNG supply to Punjab would double (1,200MMCFD). And we already have around 1,400MMCFD indigenous gas, which is called system gas in the petroleum and natural resource sector,” he said.

He claimed that with additional LNG supplies to Punjab, the SNGPL would be able to provide uninterrupted gas supply to all the sectors.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2017