The outcome of a Sui-Southern Gas Company (SSGC) meeting scheduled on Tuesday is expected to allow it to enter the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) market to cope with the demand and supply imbalance, officials told this correspondent. Sources said here on Monday that in line with the directions of Dr Asim Hussain, Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, the company, which operates in Sindh and Balochistan provinces, would soon start LPG operations.
The company is supplying natural gas to 23 million consumers including domestic, commercial and industrial sectors. In the LPG market, the company would face no non-recovery and gas theft issues, as it would sell LPG directly to consumers on cash payment. According to officials, SSGC has offered Rs 1.6 billion to acquire Progas's LPG terminal at Port Qasim, but the local shareholders have filed a case in the Sindh High Court.
"All avenues are being explored to overcome the energy crisis, and the government is looking for increasing use of LPG in the energy mix. In 2011 LPG policy the government made it compulsory for all LPG marketing companies to import 20 percent of their gas quota to protect consumers from overcharging and creation of artificial LPG shortage" they said.
"There are vast untapped areas which could become potential LPG markets, and SSGC initiative to enter the LPG market would gradually decrease our total dependence on natural gas, which with each passing day is declining in the country," the officials said.
However, despite severe shortage of natural gas and even petroleum fuel, LPG consumption has been limited in the country and it is mainly consumed as domestic fuel in areas where natural gas is not available. Pakistan's daily LPG consumption is about 5,000 tons, but local production dropped from 1,600-1,700 tons per day in 2004-05 to 1,100 tons.
An SSGC official told Business Recorder that after acquiring Progas LPG terminal, the subsidiary companies of SNGPL and SSGC would be importing LPG in bulk quantities. He said that these companies would sell LPG in remote and underdeveloped areas of the country, especially where private sector is reluctant to enter.
He said that LPG use in automobiles is widely consumed across the world and even in Pakistan around 250,000 rickshaws and taxis in big cities like Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Gujranwala are using LPG as fuel. The LPG Association has expressed serious reservations over the decision of the government to enter the LPG market, saying that the government-run companies operate mainly on subsidies.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.