LAHORE, June 21: The revenue generation of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited through the sale of gas to the domestic consumers this year will reach a mark of Rs77 billion by June 30 this year. Speaking to reporters at the conclusion of extraordinary general meeting of the company on Tuesday, the organization managing director Rashid Lone said last year the company’s sale of gas was worth Rs62 billion.

“This year due to greater number of connections to the domestic users as well as industrial sector, our sale will go up by Rs15 billion,” he said.

He said last year gas connections were provided to 135,000 consumers and a further 170,000 new clients would be added to the network this year.

Similarly, he noted that the number of industrial connections last year was 220 which would rise to 4000 this year.

Lone spoke about various options under consideration by the government, including Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, Qatar-Pakistan-India and Turkmenistan-Afghanistan- Pakistan gas projects.

Speaking about his recent visit to Qatar, Lone said Pakistan was interested in importing LNG through deep sea pipeline up to Jiwani on the Balochistan coast.

The SNGPL MD said the next meeting with the Qatari officials was scheduled to take place in Islamabad in September for further discussion on the proposed project.

He further said the visit of Iranian oil minister to Pakistan could not take place due to the presidential elections in that country, adding that new dates would be finalized soon.

Dilating on the new gas wells, he said the gas from Rehmat field near Sukkur which was drilled by a Malaysian company Petronas had been fed into the main network.

“That field is producing 35 million cubic feet of gas daily and the production is expected up to 60 mcf.”

Lone said the gas was discovered at the depth of three kilometres. The Malaysian company, he said, was awarded contract to drill seven sites out of which gas had been discovered from two.

Earlier, addressing the share-holders, the managing director spoke about the robust health of the company and said the total sale this year up to June 30 was expected to increase by 68 per cent over the last year figures.

He said SNGPL and its southern counterpart (SSGPL) through a joint venture had formed inter-state company to deal with issues related to the import of gas from Middle East and Central Asia.—APP