The gas crisis

We have for some weeks been warning about one of the worst gas crises in years hitting the country this winter. Citizens are now beginning to feel what this may look like. The Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) has said that CNG supply to pumping stations in Sindh and Balochistan will be stopped for two days in a week, Saturday and Monday, although the SSGC says that as full as possible a supply will be maintained for Balochistan. In Punjab, it has also been announced that gas to CNG stations will be cut and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa it has been suspended by SNGPL for four days. And this period could of course be extended in the future.

While the petroleum division of the energy ministry insists that 12 cargoes of LNG are expected in January, there is no certainty of this. Shahzeb Khanzada in his show on Geo TV had mentioned with proof that no one had been found willing to supply gas to Pakistan during some of this period next month, the coldest in the season, mainly because the tenders from Pakistan had been placed too late. The petroleum division and other agencies have been denying this, with the Supreme Court of Pakistan taking up the matter and ordering an inquiry which has demanded action – including the dissolution of Ogra, the organisation which is supposed to manage oil, gas and petroleum in the country.

Meanwhile, people are reporting drastically lowered gas pressure in their homes in many parts of Lahore. For some, there are already no alternatives, but to try and cook on wood with cylinders being sold at higher prices than normal, making them unaffordable for many. In some areas of Karachi, there have also been reports of low gas pressure and people fear this will be a long, cold and dark winter, and the city has seen a rise in demand for electric geysers by 30 percent and for electric hotplates by 15 percent in comparison to last winter. Sui gas is of course the main source of fuel for most households through the long winter months. For this reason, it was essential that arrangements be made to purchase gas in time and ensure reservoirs were full so that no shortage was faced. Instead, as had happened in 2018, but not in 2019, when tenders and purchases were made well in time, Pakistan looks towards a lack of gas to meet even its most basic needs. While the SSGC has said that there will be a cut to the industrial sector, it has promised this will be limited as far as possible. However, some sources suggest a 50 percent cut is possible. This would no doubt be a disaster for industry already hit by Covid-19 – and now being affected further by mismanagement and sheer incompetence.