Federal Petroleum Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan has said that combined losses of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGC) stand at Rs 48 billion and they are taking measures to minimise them. The minister expressed these views while addressing a press conference held here on Monday to launch SNGPL's anti-gas theft campaign. He told the media that during the last five years 'unaccounted for gas (UFG)' has alarmingly increased which is caused by combination of gas leakage, system fault and gas theft. He pointed out that for SNGPL UFG is 11 percent and 13 percent for SSGC, which exceeds the Ogra's UFG limit of seven percent.
"One percent of UFG translates into Rs 2 billion loss and thus we are facing Rs 48 billion losses per annum. The UFG figures are unfortunately very high and it needs to be reduced. Gas losses are also seen in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa," he added.
The minister said that although it is a difficult task to bring down UFG to seven percent, but they are making efforts to decrease the number. As one of the measures to reduce the UFG, he disclosed that with the provincial administration they will launch a crackdown against gas theft in the Punjab. Another measure, he talked, about was fixing gas leakage in the system.
He disclosed that in every region of SNGPL (which are 16 in total) an anti-gas theft force will be set up with the assistance of local administration to control gas theft in its respective regions. "We are formally launching the campaign today to control the UFG and we need cooperation of people in our efforts to minimise the loss," he added.
The minister said that anybody involved in gas theft will not be spared. Even a company official found guilty of assisting in gas theft will be taken to task. "Management of every region will be held accountable for gas losses," he added.
Talking about the recent hike in gas prices, he said the step was taken to minimise deficit of Rs 157 billion.
On the recent inflated gas bills, the minister admitted that changes in gas slab rates caused technical fault in the their system and hence people received high gas bills. "The matter is being investigated by our inquiry teams, which will be completed anytime soon and the inquiry report will be submitted to the prime minister. "After outcome of the report, the affectees will be compensated," he assured. On the occasion, he also said that they are giving gas subsidy to zero-rate export-oriented industries for one year in Punjab, as they were facing competitive issue, which will make them competitive against the industries in Sindh that enjoy lower gas tariff. On Qatar LNG agreement, he told the media that an inquiry on this matter had already started before they came into power; "we cannot comment on the matter, as it is under investigation by National Accountability Bureau, Federal Investigation Authority and the courts".
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