KARACHI, Jan 10: As the process of opening tenders for import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) begins, gas distributors appear optimistic about their ability to fill the gap between demand and supply.

The shortage of natural gas has severely impacted life in the country, leaving the gas distributors with no other choice but to look for other resources such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and LNG.

The Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) will be bifurcating distribution for their domestic, commercial and industrial consumers. “If the LNG goes to the industry and LPG, a bi-product of natural gas, is reserved for transport, then domestic consumers can enjoy natural gas as they have been doing for years,” said the company’s recently-appointed Managing Director Zuhair Siddiqui in an interview with Dawn on Thursday.

“The role of SSGC will be restricted to just providing the transmission, while the process of re-gasification, etc., will be carried out by the company selected by a reputed UK-based company working for USAID that is currently engaged in opening the tenders,” he explained.

After awarding the contract to a foreign company it would take around 18 months to set up a floating storage and re-gasification unit.

“In Bangladesh, the domestic gas rates are quite high and cheap for industry. They also have this great system where there are four areas of distribution and each area takes turns to close once a week. And the people of that country are so disciplined they don’t run to another area providing gas when their own is closed,” the SSG said.