ISLAMABAD: The Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Company (SNGPL) which covers around 70 percent consumers across the country, is anticipating a demand and supply gap to the tone of 1600MMCFD in 2015 against the current supply of some 1400MMCFD from gas fields, pointing up at worsening gas crisis in the coming years.
According to experts, currently the gap between demand and supply of gas is likely to increase from 1,445 million cubic feet per day to 1600MMCFD in next year at SNGPL’s network against the current demand hovers around 2991MMCFD which will touch 3007MMCFD in 2015-16.
They said that natural gas caters to 49 percent of total energy demand of the country but relatively lower price of natural gas and indiscriminate use of compressed natural gas (CNG) by transport sector, the consumption of gas has substantially increased.
The experts pointed out that rising demand for gas by domestic sector, transport sector and for power generation had created a demand-supply gap that had eventually led to massive cuts in gas supply to industry, the power sector and CNG stations but domestic users are the worst sufferers.
Other factors contributing to the widening gap are unwise use of gas by consumers, theft and leakage in company network, increase in gas demand due to expansion in pipeline network and no major addition in local gas resources.
They predicted that complaints of low gas pressure would be coming from the domestic sector even in next year summers and the governmental inattention would worsen the situation in coming years.
