KARACHI: SSGC Acting MD Amin Rajput has said that LNG is the fuel of the future and its availability is indispensable to bridge the demand-supply gap of natural gas as well as overcoming energy crisis in the country. In this regard, he said, SSGC has developed the requisite pipeline infrastructure for transmitting RLNG volumes to the consumption nodes in the northern part of the country. In a reply to a query about the supply of RLNG to the industries in Sindh, the SSGC AMD said that in near future, once RLNG is supplied to the industries in the company’s franchise provinces, a weekly closure of gas will end permanently.
On the issue of natural gas theft, Rajput has reiterated that there is zero tolerance on gas theft as it impacts severely on SSGC’s financial bottom line, which is one of the main causes of lines losses or UFG.
Rajput made these remarks while talking to the members of Landhi Association of Trade and Industry (LATI) in a meeting held in SSGC House at Karachi.
The LATI team consisting on LATI President Islamudin M Zafar, General Secretary Mubeen Khan, and members M Kamran Farukh and Kaleem Qureshi expressed their satisfaction over the increase of gas pressure being supplied to the industrial area and services provided to them by SSGC. LATI team demanded to revert the decision to end Sunday closure of gas supplies to the industries as it affects their production.
Responding to the demand regarding the Sunday closure, Rajput said that Sunday closures were only observed to maintain pressure in the system for the rest of the days in the week. As soon as the supply of gas from different gas fields is improved the gas supply to industries and captive sector on Sundays can be continued. Coming Sunday the gas closure will not be observed as the supplies during the week remained improved. Further AMD added that continue the supply of gas depends upon the pressure as the winter season is just around the corner.
Brigadier (retd) Mohammad Abuzar, DG of SSGC’s newly established SS and CGTO Department dilated on various sections of the Gas (Theft and Recovery) Act, 2016 that was passed by the National Assembly. The Act, he said, calls for penalising offenders involved in gas theft and related crimes by imposing imprisonment up to 14 years and fine up to Rs 10 million. Brigadier (retd) Abuzar said that the approval of Gas Act, the formation of gas utility courts for prosecuting gas thieves in Sindh and Balochistan and the creation of SSGC Police Station formed for prosecuting gas thieves, have helped SSGC in intensifying crackdowns on the miscreants. DG (SS&CGTO) said that for meaningful results, SS&CGTO Department has been structured on more result-oriented lines, whereby experienced civilians and law enforcement officials are taking care of gas theft intelligence and prosecution and operations wings of the Department.
