Prime Minister Imran Khan has ordered that the managing directors of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) be removed immediately from their posts, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said on Wednesday.

The information minister's statement has attributed the prime minister's decision to the review of a report submitted by a committee tasked with probing the ongoing gas supply crisis which rapidly escalated across the country over the past few months.

"The inquiry committee's report was presented to the prime minister yesterday," read the statement tweeted by Chaudhry, which added that "keeping in view the report's findings, the prime minister has announced that the heads of Sui Northern and Sui Northern be removed from their posts immediately".

Last month, the prime minister had ordered an inquiry into the dwindling supply of gas which not only forced industry closures across Punjab and Karachi, but even affected domestic consumers as residents in many parts faced outages.

The premier had summoned Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Ghulam Sarwar Khan who briefed him regarding SNGPL and SSGC's concealment of information from the government pertinent to a fault faced by some of the gas compressors.

Editorial: Gas crisis

According to the petroleum minister, a drop in gas production in the south fields of Kunnar Pasakhi and Gambat caused problems in Karachi, and faults in gas compressors at Nawabshah and Saran created shortages in the north.

“SNGPL did not report gas demand and supply shortfall in December accurately to the government, and SSGCL failed to inform the government about faults in the compressors in a timely manner,” a statement issued by the PM Office said.

“The specific allegations against the managing directors of SNGPL and SSGCL include negligence in reporting of facts to the ministry or incompetence to deal with operational issues, withholding of information from the government and overall systematic governance failure of SNGPL and SSGCL,” according to a notification issued by the petroleum division.