‘SSGC waging all-out war against unaccounted for gas’

Theft of natural gas is a crime that is negatively affecting the financial bottom-line of the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC).

This was stated by senior managers from the SSGC at an awareness seminar, titled ‘Let’s wage a war against UFG’, held at Sindh Agriculture University (SAU), Tando Jam, said a press release issued by the gas utility.

The seminar, a brainchild of the utility’s Corporate Communication Department, was held in collaboration with the university to create awareness about the menace of unaccounted for gas (UFG) or line losses suffered by local communities, including educational institutions. A large number of SAU students and faculty members participated in the seminar.

In his speech, Saeed Ahmed Larik, the SSGC’s senior general manager, distribution-North, stressed that one of the main reasons for UFG was gas theft that constituted 51 per cent of the line losses. He said that pipeline leakages comprised 34 per cent while metering and measurement errors made up 15 per cent of the losses.

Larik said the SSGC was waging an all-out war against the UFG and taking a number of on-ground measures to control the rising tide, including bringing theft cases into legal net by regularly conducting raids against the culprits.

The SSGC SGM said that the Gas (Theft and Recovery) Act 2016 had helped in reining in thieves. He stressed that without the cooperation of the stakeholders such as the common citizens, this goal of bringing down the UFG and putting a stranglehold on it would remain an elusive dream.

The SGM said that communities must report gas theft to the SSGC authorities the moment they saw it. In his speech, Salman A Siddiqui, deputy general manager (Corporate Communications), stressed that the SSGC had toughened its stance on gas theft in recent months, especially after the formation of the Counter Gas Theft Operations Department.

The department, he said, had been structured into a high precision unit. Spurred on by the Gas (Theft and Recovery) Act 2016, which was passed by the National Assembly, it conducted regular raids on domestic, commercial and industrial customers involved in many different types of gas theft.

He informed the audience that since the formation of the department in July 2017, more than 450 raids had taken place, a number of culprits had been sent behind bars and more than 60 FIRs had been lodged.

As a result, till February 2018, more than 600 mmcf of gas had been saved, which in monetary terms amounted to Rs457 million. These efforts against gas theft had been labelled by the SSGC as ‘operation grift’, he added.

Earlier, Dr Ismail Kumbhar, director, University Advancement, SAU, thanked the SSGC for collaborating with the university in this awareness drive and lauded the company management and its executives for taking stakeholders such as the common citizens in confidence for waging a decisive war against the menace of the UFG and theft of natural gas. Faculty members presented mementoes to the visiting SSGC officials.