KARACHI: Petroleum Minister Dr Asim Hussain issued a grim warning on Thursday about nationwide gas emergency that would lead to closure of CNG stations from the next month.

Dr Asim did not give a cutaway date or duration of the shutdown and told journalists that no final decision had yet been taken about his proposal for a month-long closure.

But his contention that compressors could shut down anytime because of very low pressure and that there would be no gas for two weeks rang alarm bells among the quarters concerned, who opposed the move outright and alleged that the minister was taking ‘rash’ decisions to encourage LPG business at the cost of CNG users.

Dr Asim said CNG closure in Sindh was taking place under a gas load management plan while in Punjab gas was being provided to industries under an agreed formula.

Claiming that some elements were politicising the issue, he specifically accused the chairman of the All Pakistan CNG Association of indulging in politics and alleged that “CNG stations are stealing gas”.

CNG associations have already called for a day of protest on December 31 in case the government did not withdraw the plan for a month-long closure of CNG stations and imposition of a gas infrastructure levy. The Karachi Transport Ittehad supported the call for protest.

Meanwhile, CNG associations of Sindh claimed to have succeeded in persuading the Sui Southern Gas Company to shut down CNG stations in the region for four consecutive nights, instead of two daylong shutdowns, next week.

The representatives of All Pakistan CNG Association, CNG Station Owners’ Association, and CNG Dealers’ Association held negotiations on Thursday with the SSGC management on the issue of weekly shutdown of gas supply to CNG stations in the province under the load management programme for coping with the gas shortage.

Spokesperson for the SSGC, however, claimed that no such decision had been taken by the company. “We have listened to their proposal and nothing has been finalised yet.”

He said the CNG stations in Sindh and Balochistan would be shut down for 24 hours from 7am on Friday as announced by the company.

Shabbir Sulemanjee, president of the All Pakistan CNG Association (Sindh Zone), has nevertheless claimed that the SSGC management had agreed that in the coming week the CNG stations would be shut down from 8pm till 7am on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

He said this schedule would be observed in the coming week, instead of the two daylong shutdowns. Under the new arrangement, the shutdown of gas supply for CNG pumps would be for 44 hours in a week, he said.

Mr Sulemanjee said the SSGC had agreed to implement the new nightlong schedule of shutdown only for the coming week.

He said that despite their successful talks with the SSGC, CNG associations of Sindh would shut down CNG stations on December 31 as per their earlier announcement.