Rs6,944mn payable by SNGPL to PSO against LNG supplies

ISLAMABAD: The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) has to pay Rs 6,944 million to the Pakistan State Oil (PSO) on account of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) supplies after Pakistan started importing the gas in March last year.

"SNGPL has reported that an amount of Rs 6,944 million is payable to PSO against LNG supplies as of date i.e. 26-07-2016," official sources in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources told APP.

As per the procedure, they clarified that power plants were making payments to SNGPL, which forwarded the payments to PSO for purchase of LNG.

"The company pays to PSO all collections received from RLNG consumers and it has paid Rs. 82,768 million against invoiced amount of Rs 89 712 million," the sources added.

In last month, they said, SNGPL had already paid Rs 8,981 million to PSO, while the remaining amount would also be paid on collection of the billed amount from Regassified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) consumers.

They said LNG supplies were being arranged by PSO through competitive bidding process as well as under the government-to-government arrangements from Qatar.

As many as 40 cargoes carrying around of 126,917,474 103,864,259 mmbtu LNG have so far arrived in Pakistan after the LNG import deal with Qatar last year.

Answering a question, the sources said the country was facing a vast gap between demand and supply of natural gas which was bridged through load management in different sectors to meet needs domestic and commercial consumers in accordance with the Natural Gas Allocation and Management Policy, 2005.

With the import of LNG and its injection into the system, they said the gap had been mitigated to a great extent.

"It has enabled SNGPL to ensure uninterrupted supplies to its consumers. Currently, gas supply to domestic, commercial, industrial, power, fertilizer and CNG sectors across its network is being made uninterrupted," they said.

However, they said the gap between demand and supply widened further and situation worsened during winter months due to usage of room heaters and geysers.

"In order to ensure uninterrupted supplies of indigenous gas to highest priority domestic sector, the gas supplies to less priority sectors shall be managed and curtailed, especially during peak winter months," the remarked.