PINDI BHATTIAN: Energy Minister Omar Ayub Khan has said that the government will ensure uninterrupted gas supply to domestic consumers during the ongoing winter season in the country.
While talking to the media in Pindi Bhattian today, the minister said that the country was facing a shortage of gas due to the wrong policies of previous governments.
He said that there would be a gas shortage and pressure problems for one month between December and January, as hydropower generation would decline to owe to annual canal closure for maintenance and the resultant shift in power generation to local gas and regasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG).
“As a result, the overall gas shortfall could be around two billion cubic feet per day (bcfd),” he added. However, he said, domestic and export-oriented industrial sectors would face no disruption during winters.
The ministry will ensure prioritizing residential and industrial demand during winter months without any load curtailment, he added.
The minister further said that the federal has issued 10 licenses for the distribution of oil and gas in the country. He said, “Local gas production is low while demand is increasing so there will be gas load shedding in the coming winter as well”.
The total demand for gas in the country is up to 7.5 billion cubic feet per day, but the shortage of gas is 3.5 billion cubic feet per day, Omar Ayub added.
The Federal Minister said that out of the gas supplied from Sindh, 1.56 billion cubic feet of gas are used yearly in Sindh alone, while only 261 million cubic feet of gas from Sindh goes to Punjab yearly.
