ISLAMABAD: The Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) on Thursday reviewed the requirement of furnace oil for winter months and directed the Ministry of Energy to prepare a comprehensive plan to meet the industrial and residential demand in the upcoming without any curtailment of load.
The directions came during a meeting of the CCoE held under the chairmanship of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Minister Asad Umar. The meeting was attended by Energy Minister Omar Ayub Khan, Information & Broadcasting Minister Shibli Faraz, Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razaq Dawood, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Petroleum Nadeem Babar and SAPM on Mineral Resources Shahzad Qasim.
The meeting was held to review the implementation status of the North-South Gas Pipeline (NSGP) project as well as to gauge the high sulphur furnace oil (HSFO) and low sulphur fuel oil (LSFO) demand for power plants.
The committee directed the energy ministry to ensure the complete utilisation of all fuel sources, including renewable and coal, before the assessment of furnace oil requirement.
It was decided that an evaluation of domestic refining capacity would also be conducted so as to keep the requirement to import at a minimum.
Further, the Petroleum Division presented the natural gas demand-supply situation for the winter, including LNG import requirements.
The CCoE directed the ministry to ensure that there is no gas load curtailment for industries and that all efforts are made to meet the remaining system demand. Gas allocation priority criteria will be adhered to by the ministry during the winter season.
The committee also took serious notice of the non-completion of a 17km gas pipeline extension at Port Qasim by Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), which was hindering the utilisation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal capacity.
Stressing on the complete utilisation of excess LNG to make the additional gas available in the system, the committee requested Energy Minister Omar Ayub Khan to personally follow up with the Sindh government to ensure that a No Objection Certificate (NOC) is issued for the construction of the pipeline and that it is completed by December.
Regarding the implementation status of NSGP, the committee directed to expedite the process of land acquisition and present a detailed project implementation schedule along with the transaction structure and formulation by February 2021.
