Tag: gas shortage

  • OGDCL confirms gas discovery near Ghotki, Sindh

    OGDCL confirms gas discovery near Ghotki, Sindh

    On Wednesday, the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) announced the finding of gas from an exploration well near Ghotki, Sindh.

    “The joint venture (JV) of Guddu Block comprising Oil & Gas Development Company Limited as an operator (70 per cent), SPUD Energy PTY Limited (SEPL) (13.5 per cent), IPR Transoil Corporation (IPRTOC) (11.5 per cent), and Government Holdings (Private) Limited (GHPL) (5 percent) has discovered Gas from an exploratory well namely Umair South East # 01, which is located in District Ghotki, Sindh,” the company stated in a notice.

    The Umair South East # 01 well, according to OGDCL, was spudded on May 9, 2022, as an exploration well to investigate the hydrocarbon potential of the Pirkoh Formation and Habib Rahi Limestone (HRL) to a projected depth of 785m.

    “Based on the interpretation of wireline logs, successful Drill Stem Test-1 in HRL tested 1.063 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) gas through choke size 32/64” at 210 pounds per square inch (PSi) Well Head Flowing Pressure (WHFP)”.

    The finding of Umair South East-1 is the outcome of Guddu Joint Venture Partners’ aggressive exploration approach, according to the Pakistani oil and gas business.

    “It has opened a new route and will favourably contribute to alleviating energy demand and supply gaps from indigenous resources, while also adding to OGDCL’s and the country’s hydrocarbon reserves base,” it said.

    The discovery comes at a fortunate time for Pakistan, which has recently experienced huge power outages and a gas scarcity.

    Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL) discovered gas/condensate earlier this month in the Bannu West-1 ST-1 Exploration Well, which was drilled in the Bannu West Block in North Waziristan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

  • Pakistan loses $250m worth of textile exports due to gas shortage

    Pakistan loses $250m worth of textile exports due to gas shortage

    Pakistan has lost $250m worth of textile exports in December 2021 when the gas supply was suspended for 15 days in the Punjab textile sector.

    Executive Director of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), Shahid Sattar also confirmed the loss of millions of dollars by saying that it will “never be recovered.”

    The government restored gas supply on December 29 with the supply of 75 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) by mid-January and ensured that the supply would be increased up to the finest level after the extreme winter season was over.

    On the other hand, the sources said that the gas being supplied to the export sector is less than the government announced despite the industry purchasing gas at $9 per Metric Million British Thermal Unit (MMBTU), instead of $6.5 mmcfd during the winters.

    The ministry of Commerce sources also revealed that the smooth supply of electricity was not received by the textile mills in Punjab from the national grid due to interruptions. They further added that it is causing huge losses to the industry, which may go up to $250-400 million per month.

    The textile mills association also sent the letter to the Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce and Textiles Abdul Razak Dawood on January 7, in which they expressed their serious concern over the interruptions in the supply of electricity.

    The letter said, “Each interruption wastes half an hour and up to two hours in restarting the machinery, resulting in losing material and rendering capacity grossly underutilized.”

    It further added that mills were currently running on 80% capacity, which signifies a 20% loss of exports. “And this adds up to losses between $250-$400 million in exports lost every month”.

  • PTI MNAs call for Hammad Azhar’s resignation, threaten to protest in NA

    PTI MNAs call for Hammad Azhar’s resignation, threaten to protest in NA

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Member of National Assembly (MNA) Abdul Shakoor Shad has reportedly demanded Minister of Energy Hammad Azhar’s resignation over the gas crisis in Karachi.

    Shad said, “For the rights of Lyari people, I will protest in National Assembly (NA).” Apart from Azhar’s, he has also demanded the resignation of the Managing Director (MD) of Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC).

    Another PTI’s MNA Captain (R) Jamil Ahmed Khan has threatened to protest in the House. He has written a letter to the federal minister that people from his constituency (Malir) are not happy because of the gas shortage.

    Prior to this, PTI’s Aftab Siddiqui also wrote a letter to the administration that Azhar’s behavior is discreditable and disclosed that the minister doesn’t even respond to messages. He warned that PTI can lose by-elections in Karachi as they did in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

    On the other hand, Hammad said on Friday that he is aware of the gas crisis in Karachi but refused to accept any responsibility and blamed the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) restraining order.

    The provincial court restrained the Ministry and Sui Gas companies from giving any effect to the government’s notification of suspending gas supply to non-export general industries.

    In a press conference, Azhar said that for the past several years, the system has faced gas shortage in the winter season, while demand increases 3-5 times.

    While addressing the gas crisis in the country, the federal minister admitted that, “The government could not provide the fuel source through expensive imports beyond a limit and that the system has faced depletion of output with a 9 per cent reduction each year.”

    Azhar added that imported Liquified Natural Gas (LNG), which Pakistan has increasingly relied on in recent years, has become “extremely expensive”.

    “There is a stay on the provision of gas to priority areas. In the next hearing on December 30, we will bring it up,” he stated.

    Moreover, the minister assured, “SSGC and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) teams are working day and night to improve gas management despite rising demand and yearly decline in gas reserves.”

    SSGC has said that it currently faces shortages of around 250 to 260 million standard cubic feet per day (mmcfd), with demand in winter rising to 1,250 mmcfd.

    Due to the immense shortage, residents are forced to buy cylinders for regular chores not only in Karachi but all over Pakistan.

  • ‘It’s fake news’: Hammad Azhar says govt never promised gas supply three times a day

    ‘It’s fake news’: Hammad Azhar says govt never promised gas supply three times a day

    Federal Energy Minister Hammad Azhar, while discussing Pakistan’s gas crisis on the Geo News‘ programme ‘Naya Pakistan’, said that the media reports stating that the government had ordered gas supply only three times a day was “fake news”.

    “First of all, this fake news [was associated with me] that gas will only be supplied three times a day,” he stated. “I was asked in the Senate about it to which I said the government never made any such commitment simply because it is not possible to do so.”

    The minister said it is not “logistically possible” to cut off gas supply connections in people’s homes numerous times during the day to ensure that gas is available three times a day.

    “We did, however, tell the gas companies to try and prioritise gas pressure for domestic consumers three times a day when people prepare breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” he clarified.

    Earlier in November, the government decided to provide gas to the residential sector only three times a day for cooking purposes throughout December to March to minimise gas shortages in Pakistan.

    “Gas to residential sector shall be provided three times a day for cooking only,” the meeting was informed by the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Divi­sion), who added that Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) diversion to domestic consumers is to be made bare minimum for stability.

    This was all decided by Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) during a meeting presided over by Minister for Planning and Develop­ment Asad Umar. This is part of the Gas Load Management Plan for winter 2021-22, which was presented to the committee.

  • ‘Pakistan will have no gas in years to come’: Fawad Chaudhry

    ‘Pakistan will have no gas in years to come’: Fawad Chaudhry

    Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Tuesday said that Pakistan will not have gas in the years to come.

    Fawad’s comments come after the cabinet meeting when he was talking to the media. He said that the gas reserves were depleting by nine per cent each year, therefore, there will be no gas available for people.

    He said people getting gas at cheaper rates in big cities should now change their habits. “This trend will not continue for long,” he added.

    Fawad highlighted that price of oil in the international market has declined. However, they haven’t been reduced much and an impact can be seen here. He, therefore, urged people to pray that the price of oil comes down globally.

  • Shaukat Tarin denies what he said on national television

    Shaukat Tarin denies what he said on national television

    Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance Shaukat Tarin admitted to the present gas crisis in the country on Samaa News. However, a day later, Tarin denied his own words and issued a clarification.

    After the show was aired and various news media outlets covered the story,  Energy Minister Hammad Azhar took to Twitter and blamed Geo for manipulating Tarin’s words.

    Hammad tweeted, “What Tarin actually said: -intl prices high due to global shortage. -Noone can predict intl price. – some time ago (July) they had refused a tender (July) but that was for a limited time & wouldn’t have changed things now.”

    “Geo: Gas crises due to not purchasing LNG on time, Fin Min,” added Hammad.

    Shaukat Tarin, after admitting to the gas crisis, took to Twitter and shared his clarification.

    https://twitter.com/shaukat_tarin/status/1463427014711468036

    “News item published in Daily The News titled ‘Govt couldn’t purchase gas Cargoes in time, admits Tarin’ is completely misleading & out of the context,” read the statement.

    “When anchor (Nadeem Malik) asked about the gas shortfall situation in the country, he stated the reasons including the ongoing global LNG shortages which have created fiasco, and it was not in control of anybody.”

    “Government has been buying the gas as required, despite higher international prices. However, he has mentioned there was one tender scrapped in July, but this has nothing to do with winter gas. The Adviser Finance has not mentioned at any point that winter gas shortfalls are due to non-procurement of LNG on time.”

    On November 23, Shaukat Tarin appeared on Samaa News’ programme, ‘Nadeem Malik Live’, and said the very words being denied now.

    “We [government] should have bought the gas cargoes on time as the purchasing time for it was over,” said Tarin.

    Tarin further said nobody knew about the international prices, which he stated were quite high, and that the government should have bought some cargoes earlier.

  • ‘Government should have bought gas cargoes earlier’: Shaukat Tarin admits to gas crisis

    ‘Government should have bought gas cargoes earlier’: Shaukat Tarin admits to gas crisis

    Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance Shaukat Tarin admitted to the present gas crisis in the country.

    While speaking on Samaa News’ programme, ‘Nadeem Malik Live’, Shaukat Tarin said, “We [government] should have bought the gas cargoes on time as the purchasing time for it was over.”

    Tarin further said nobody knew about the international prices, which he stated were quite high and that the government should have bought some cargoes earlier.

    Tarin said the country’s imports of petroleum and gas touched almost $20 billion per year, which had been at $12 to $13 billion per year and now it had to pay $7-8 billion more in that regard.

    Shaukat Tarin said that as per the market pundits, the prices would come down during December and January when the intensity of the Covid-19 pandemic would start declining.

    Speaking on the gas crisis, Tarin said Pakistani companies were supplying gas to consumers. He added that a couple of gas discoveries were made in Lakki Marwat, however, money was needed for the extraction process.

    Last week, Energy Minister Hammad Azhar took to Twitter to challenge journalist Shahzeb Khanzada to a debate on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and gas.

    Shahzeb Khanzada, a year ago, had warned that the gas crisis was impending, kept reiterating that the crisis needs immense attention, otherwise the consequences shall be huge.

    Azhar took to Twitter and proposed a challenge.

    “I would like to challenge Shahzeb Khanzada to debate LNG and Gas issues with me moderated by a neutral anchor and with Independent experts. Let the ppl [people] see the facts without persistent interrupting, volume controls, teleprompters etc,” tweeted Azhar.

  • Govt plans to provide gas three times a day for cooking only

    The government has decided to provide gas to the residential sector only three times a day for cooking purposes throughout December to March to minimise gas shortages in Pakistan, reports Dawn.

    “Gas to residential sector shall be provided three times a day for cooking only,” the meeting was informed by the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Divi­sion), who added that Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) diversion to domestic consumers is to be made bare minimum for stability.

    Gas supply to power and fertiliser sectors of the country is expected to remain stable. Their supply and demand would remain unchanged.

    This was all decided by Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) during a meeting presided over by Minister for Planning and Develop­ment Asad Umar. This is part of the Gas Load Management Plan for winter 2021-22, which was presented to the committee.

    It should be noted that the world is experiencing a fuel and gas shortage as recently it has been reported that the United States (US) government urged its citizens to leave Haiti because of the severe lack of fuel and closing down of gas stations in the country that have affected hospitals, schools, and banks.

    During the meeting, Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) also presented their additional measures against illegal gains and other revised rules according to which fines have been revised for licensees. The maximum penalty for major violations now starts from Rs10 million to Rs500 million.

    Like every year, Pakistan is expected to be hit by a major gas crisis, reports Geo News.

    One of the reasons is that local discoveries of gas have witnessed a dip, so the domestic gas reserves are reduced, the sources explained, adding that the local gas supply stood at 4,300 mmcfd a few years back but now it has depleted and stands at 3,300 mmcfd. 

  • Sui Northern tells us when to cook during winters

    Sui Northern tells us when to cook during winters

    The Sui Northern Gas Company has warned that there could be a shortage in severe cold and has issued a few directions for the consumers to follow to avoid any inconvenience.

    These include:

    • Using electric heaters instead of gas heaters
    • Using electric/instant geyser
    • Using a geyser timer device with the traditional gas geyser
    • Gas will be provided during the cooking hours

    However, the authority has not revealed cooking hours yet.

    A statement issued by SNGPL said that the increase in gas consumption during the winter results in the shortage of gas. A wise approach towards gas consumption can make the situation much better.