LAHORE, Sept 26: The industry in Punjab suffered massive production losses on Wednesday when gas and power supplies to most factories were totally cut off because of sudden closure of Qadirpur gas field on account of technical fault.

Almost all industrial units across the province dependent on power supply from the dedicated electricity feeders or from their own gas-based captive power were forced to shut down their plants.

Industry sources told Dawn that both the power and gas utilities – Pepco and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) – were vague on any timeline for the resumption supplies to the industry.

“The SNGPL authorities have told us that it could take them a day or two before the fault is removed and gas supplies from Qadirpur resumed. The Pepco officials say the resumption of electricity supply on dedicated industrial feeders is unlikely to be restored until gas supply to the power producers is restored and overall power supply gap reduced,” a factory owner said.

A senior SNGPL official told Dawn on condition of anonymity that gas supply to the industry and power producers was suspended to protect domestic and transport (CNG) sector.

“We are facing a massive supply gap of 400mmcfd because of closure of Qadirpur gas field, which has forced us to suspend supplies to power and industrial sectors,” he said. He was hopeful that the supplies from Qadirpur would resume by Thursday morning.

The power shortages rose to around 5,000 megawatts because of gas supplies to thermal power stations was halted and about 1,500 megawatt of electricity provided to the industry through dedicated feeders was diverted to domestic and commercial consumers.

Sources said the unavailability of enough oil had further reduced generation, exacerbating power shortages in the country.

An All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) official told Dawn that the textile industry alone had suffered a financial loss of over Rs3 billion in production loss due to sudden suspension of gas supplies since Tuesday night and electricity cuts in order to meet domestic shortages.

He said the Captive Power Plants (CPPs) of the textile industry were already facing gas supply suspension of two days a week in Punjab and power shortages of eight hours a day.

“Halting gas and electricity supplies to the industry is the easier way out of the crisis for the government. Why didn’t the government stop supplies to the CNG sector rather than bringing the industrial wheel to a stop across Punjab?” he asked.