Gas outages in Karachi likely due to annual gas field maintenance shutdown

KARACHI: Consumers in Karachi are likely to face low gas supplies or pressure for over two weeks as the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) has issued an ‘Annual Turnaround Plan 2023’ for its Kunnar-Pasakhi Deep gas field, requiring planned maintenance in three phases.

According to a media alert issued by the SSGC on Friday, the gas field will be undergoing panned maintenance for 16 days, from August 12 to 27.

The OGDC has planned one complete field shutdown of eight days and two partial shutdowns of four days each.

“As a result, SSGC will face an estimated shortfall of 107 mmcfd during the full ATA period and 50 mmcfd each during the two partial ATAs,” said the SSGC.

It said that since the demand-supply gap is already widening due to constant depletion of gas reserves, this ATA will further widen this fissure. “As a result, many consumers, especially those located at the tail-end of SSGC’s gas distribution lines may face low gas supplies and pressure.”

The SSGC said it would be closely monitoring the situation and would do its utmost to effectively manage the gas load by ensuring maximum available supplies to all categories of its consumers.

During the three ATA phases, the SSGC said, it would keep its consumers in Sindh and Balochistan informed about the supply side developments.