No gas loadshedding in country: Sarwar Khan

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Petroleum Ghulam Sarwar Khan Friday said there was no loadshedding of gas in the country but there could be problems of supply in some areas due to system constraints and old pipelines.

Speaking during the question hour in the National Assembly here, he said there was shortfall of gas due to depleting gas reserves, however with adjustments in the supply system the gas pressures were restored to normal and residential and commercial consumers were getting the required gas.

He said Unaccounted for Gas (UFG) increased by one percent every year in the last five years and 13 percent were the line losses and theft. He said one percent theft caused a loss of Rs two billion and in total Rs 48 billion of gas was wasted.

The gas companies were given the target to decrease level of UFG by one percent every year, he added.

The minister informed the house that Sui Southern Gas company has reported that no gas loadshedding was being carried out by it in Ratodero Town and uninterrupted gas supply was ensured to the domestic as well as commercial customers through a load management plan.

To another question of a member, the minister informed that the prices of petroleum products in the country were linked with the international, Arab and Gulf market prices which fluctuate on a daily basis. Therefore the prices were not in the control of the government. Accordingly domestic oil prices were increased and decreased by including notified taxes and other cost components incurred on the supply of oil across the country.

He said the government took steps from time to time for providing relief to the consumers by adjusting increase in international oil prices through a reduction in the rates of taxes.

During the current month, OGRA recommended an increase in the prices of petroleum products effective from December 1, 2018.

However the government took necessary steps on the directives of the Prime Minister to reduce the prices of petroleum products by reducing the tax rate and providing relief to the public.

This month relief of Rs 4, Rs 8.21, Rs 12.51 and Rs 12.79 was given on diesel, petrol, kerosene oil and light diesel oil respectively.

He said the price for indigenous LPG was being notified by OGRA which was intended for domestic and commercial consumers only and not for the industrial sector. OGRA’s notified price of LPG for domestic and commercial consumers for the month of December was Rs 1338.79/11.8 kg cylinder. This is in line with clause 3.6.9 of the LPG policy which states that the indigenous LPG production would primarily be supplied to domestic and commercial consumers. All other sectors such as automobile and industrial will only be allowed to use imported LPG. The minister said an effort was being made to bring price of diesel to that of petrol.