LAHORE, Jan 27: The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) expects repair of both the damaged lines by Tuesday (today) noon that will enable it to restore supply to CNG stations by Wednesday and industry on Thursday.

The company had snapped supplies to industry and CNG stations in order to meet around 600 million cubic feet shortage.

On Monday, it had only 515mcf supply against total demand of 1100mcf. By shutting of industry and the CNG stations, the company had brought demand down to 700mcf. The company was able to meet the deficit from its pack (pipeline storage). It was also helped by fair weather.

During the last crisis, fog and cold wave worsened the situation.

At present, the company is getting around 400mcf from Qadirabad field, 41mcf from Dhodak and 85mcf from 14 fields in the Pothohar belt. Though there is a drop of 45 per cent supplies, the SNGPL has been able to meet demand only because of weather and its pack storage. The gaslines pack has over 2000mcf gas but it cannot spare more than 400mcf from it because the system needs 1600mcf for smooth running.

Out of this 400mcf, around 50mcf has already been consumed. “The company can still spare around 350mcf during the next 24 hours and there should not be any problem for domestic and commercial consumers,” officials say. Meanwhile, the Lahorites were also saved from crisis by the company when it continued meeting domestic demand, mainly because of fair weather.