LAHORE, Jan 8: Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) revenues are expected to shoot up from the last year's Rs46 billion to Rs67 billion this year, according to its senior officials.

"This huge increase in the company's revenues is made possible as a result of injection of additional gas resources in the SNGPL distribution system, without raising the gas rates," the officials told Dawn on Thursday.

"The country is already saving over $750 million a year by substituting the import of furnace oil with additional gas supply made available to the SNGPL system after completion of 580km gas pipeline connecting it with two new gas fields - Zamzama and Sawan," they said.

The use of furnace oil by the industry, including by Wapda's thermal power stations and independent power producers (IPPs), has dropped drastically in the recent months due to their conversion to cheaper and cleaner fuel - natural gas.

The officials say at least 40 per cent more gas has been added to the SNGPL system during the second half of 2003. The SNGPL officials are hopeful that the existing gas supplies are "adequate to meet the country's industrial and domestic needs till 2009". However, they say, a shortage of gas could take place if no new gas discovery is made by that year. But, they hastily add, the government is focussing on new gas discoveries as well as import this fuel from other nearby states.

They say the company is also laying yet another 300km pipeline to add 300 mcf gas from newly discovered gas field near Sukkur. "The company intends to lay the pipeline without any foreign assistance. Only the locally produced pipes would be used in this project as was done in the previous projects," they say.