KARACHI: The Minister of State for Petroleum Division, Jam Kamal Khan has stressed the need to expedite work on LPG-Air Mix plants for the betterment of the residents of Balochistan. He expressed his views at a meeting held recently in Islamabad to discuss matters pertaining to the installation and commissioning of LPG-Air Mix Projects in Balochistan.
The meeting was attended by Joint Secretary Ministry of Energy and Petroleum division Syed Tauqeer Hussain, Director General (Liquefied Gases) Shahid Yousuf, and SSGC’s Project Director (Liquefied Gases) Asim Tirmizi. The Minister said that the Government was committed to making LPG-Air Mix available on a fast-track basis to those areas in Balochistan where natural gas could not be transmitted and distributed.
In the past, SSGC has established LPG-Air Mix plants in Balochistan towns of Gwadar (1 mmcfd capacity), Noshki and Surab (2 mmcfd capacity) and in Kot Ghulam Mohammad (2 mmcfd capacity) in Sindh.  In 2016, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) approved the summary submitted by Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division) for the installation of additional 30 LPG-Air Mix Plants in the far-flung areas of Sindh and Balochistan where the distribution of natural gas through conventional pipelines was not feasible.
The Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division) engaged SSGC to achieve the goal in Balochistan, keeping in view the gas utility’s vast experience and expertise in the field of energy infrastructure development and its proven track record in the past years. Their combined efforts have already led to the energetic initiation of LPG-Air Mix projects at various locations in Balochistan, with the LPG-Air Mix Plant of 1 mmcfd in Awaran, now nearing completion.
It must be mentioned here that Pakistan was facing a huge energy deficit at the beginning of 2013 which resulted in the rapid downfall in economic growth. The government accepted the massive challenge of bridging the demand-supply gap and actively initiated several development schemes including schemes related to the enhancement of energy generation capacity. The main emphasis of the schemes was on the development and growth of the province of Balochistan, with notable pillars in these schemes being LNG and LPG-Air Mix.
