Gas overbilling due to GCV, SCF: Senate panel disposes of KP industry''s claims

A parliamentary panel Friday disposed of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa industry''s claims of overbilling due to gross calorific value (GCV) and super compressibility factor (SCF) after an assurance was made by managing director Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) to resolve the issue.
Regarding the issue of excessive billing due to GCV and SCF, the committee recommended that issue of excessive and unjustified billing to industries in KP due to GCV and SCF be resolved immediately and also to reimburse the amount received in access while enquiry be conducted against officials responsible for this.
A technical committee comprising representatives from APTMA KP and Sarhad Chamber of Commerce of Industry along with representative of the SNGPL was formed to deliberate upon the issues of excessive GCV and SCF.
A meeting of the technical committee was held at the SNGPL regional office Peshawar on January 5, 2018, wherein, the committee was informed that the SNGPL being licensee of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) works in regulated environment and it has never been a policy to overcharge/ over-bill its valued consumers.
The committee was apprised that the SNGPL receives gas in its system from various sources, so the SCF and GCV vary from source to source and province to province. This variation is purely based on technical facts. As regards calculating SCF, it was explained that Industrial State Gadoon being the largest industrial cluster is operated at very high pressure and is being directly fed from SMS Topi. For calculating SCF, the pressure and temperature values are recorded at SMS Topi, which are then incorporated for calculating the SCF while carrying out monthly billing. The SCF applied in KP is as per technical parameters.
The committee was informed that the new chart points were defined in Industrial Estate Gadoon for recording pressure/ temperature values for future billing. Further, gas chromatograph equipment will be installed at Nowshera in a couple of days. The Senate Sub-Committee on Energy (Petroleum Division) met with Sardar Muhammad Azam Khan Musakhel in the chair. The committee also discussed the issue of supply of gas to five union councils of district Bannu.
Senator Baz Muhammad Khan insisted that his name should be displayed in five union councils where gas would be supplied as in the light of recognition of his efforts in this respect. The SNGPL managing director said that it is against government''s policy to write name of parliamentarian in tender float for gas supply in their constituencies. They may arrange separate event for inauguration of gas scheme on their own expense.