I am pleased to note that the JJVL LPG project has achieved financial close, and the ground breaking ceremony is being performed by the Honourable Prime Minister of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali on 16th March 2004.
Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) as the supplier of natural gas has played a positive role in moving this project towards implementation. By facilitating the implementation of the LPG Extraction Project, through an agreement with JJVL, SSGC would be contributing in a substantial manner to the increased availability of LPG in the country.
The US$ 32 million project would receive about 200 million receive about 200 million cubic feet gas per day at SSGC's Liquid Handling Facility (LHF) at Jamshoro from the Badin concession, for extraction of liquids (Propane and Butane) to produce LPG. SSGC would receive between US$ 3-5 Million as annual royalty.
The project would extract 99.4 percent available propane in the gas stream to produce about 350-400 MT of LPG/day, and add approximately 40% to the country's LPG production.
This will not only alleviate the current shortage of LPG in the country, especially in the winter months, but will also provide additional quantities of this clean fuel to the rural and remote areas, where it is not economically feasible to lay costly gas pipeline network.
The project will also create nearly 3000 new jobs. SSGC is also committed to the preservation of the environment under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme, and it promotes a number of activities aimed at furthering this objective.
SSGC is laying particular emphasis on areas that are threatened by environmental degradation, such as the Juniper forest in Ziarat, Balochistan where gas stoves and LPG cylinders have been supplied on a subsidised basis to the local population to prevent burning of firewood obtained from Juniper trees.
SSGC is also supporting the WWF Wetland Centre near Karachi to help save the endangered mangrove forests on the coastal belt of Sindh.
Use of LPG for cooking purpose substantially improves the lot of rural women who obtain access to safe and environment friendly fuel.
We take this opportunity to wish the LPG project speedy success and look forward to the early completion of the project per schedule.