Federal Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar on Friday assured exporters of all provinces of stable gas supply during winters.
In a post on Twitter, Azhar said a successful meeting was held with export sectors of all provinces. “They [exporters] have been assured of stable gas supply during winter and in return, inefficient gas captive plants will shift to power now,” he said.
A successful meeting held with export sectors of all provinces. They have been assured of stable gas supply during winters and in return inefficient gas captive plants will shift to power now.
— Hammad Azhar (@Hammad_Azhar) November 19, 2021
Two days ago, in the meeting of Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE), presided over by Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar, it was discussed that industrial activities will be the focus of gas management plans, especially in the export sector, with the petroleum division informing the meeting that the growing demand for domestic consumers will be met through savings from captive power plants.
Earlier, on unearthing the misuse of gas subsidy by captive power plants to the tune of 75% and increased tariff to put an end to the malpractice.
The Petroleum Division informed the cabinet recently that an analysis of the consumption pattern of gas/re-gasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) in export-oriented sectors revealed that up to 75pc of the fuel was being consumed by the captive power plants for power generation while only 25pc of gas went to the general industrial use, according to the Express Tribune.
In order to avoid the misuse of concessionary tariff of $6.5 per mmbtu for self-power generation, the government had decided to incentivise the captive power generation. As a result, there was a dire need to curtail/disconnect gas supplies to the captive power units where there was always apprehension of the misuse of subsidised gas supply.
