ISLAMABAD: The Managing Directors of state-owned gas utilities Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) have been blamed for the gas crisis engulfing the country.
In a report prepared by the Petroleum Division secretary and sent to Prime Minister Imran Khan stated the management of Sui gas companies was responsible for the gas crisis, say, officials, reports an English daily.
And the government had already started an inquiry into the performance of the MDs of the state-owned gas utilities and believed they had hidden facts about the operation of gas compressors.
Previously, the PM had rejected the report submitted by a committee headed by Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) Chairman Uzma Adil and instructed the Petroleum Division to recommence the investigation to unearth individuals and lobbies responsible for the gas crisis.
The date for submitting the report set by the PM was 28th December.
The report submitted by the committee headed by Ogra Chairman was discussed in a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy, presided over by the PM.
Previously, the Minister for Petroleum Division Ghulam Sarwar Khan had blamed the MDs of SSGC and SNGPL for the gas crisis, after which the PM set up the fact-finding committee.
However, the report prepared by the petroleum secretary and sent to the PM raised the problem of lack of coordination among energy company, which made the overall energy chain paralyzed.
According to officials, the major beneficiaries of the recent gas crisis was the oil mafia which was successful in promoting the utilization of imported furnace oil in power plants in contravention of the merit order.
Meanwhile, the domestic refineries which produce 10,000 tons furnace oil daily saw it surpassing 500,000 tons.
Consequently, local refineries which lack the storage capacity were compelled to decrease the production of petroleum products by buying less crude oil.
The oil and exploration companies, as a result, were compelled to lower their oil and gas production from their fields, causing a decrease in gas supply to the gas companies i.e. SSGC and SNGPL.
