Gas will only be available for eight hours in winter. Caretaker Power Minister Muhammad Ali has stated that due to the country’s depleting natural gas reserves, gas will only be available for eight hours during the winter.
“[Gas] load-shedding has been taking place for the last few years. The load shedding will occur this year as well because we don’t have enough gas to supply it for 24 hours,” the interim minister said while addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Wednesday.
The minister stated as he did last year, that the load-shedding plan was being developed to ensure an eight-hour supply of gas. He claimed that natural gas reserves had been depleted by 18% over the previous year.
Power Minister Ali also expressed optimism that the December gas shortage for the industry will be alleviated to a greater extent now that two liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes have been finalized.
Despite various constraints, the minister stated that all efforts were being made to ensure the availability of gas to the domestic, industrial, and fertilizer sectors with minimal gas load management during the upcoming winter season.
“We have only two LNG terminals and limited natural gas but today we have finalized two LNG cargoes for December, which would help address the gas supply issues in December for the industry. The gas supply was also being improved for the fertilizer sector, he added.
As Gas will only be available for eight hours in winter, peaking about the ongoing crackdown on power thieves, the minister stated that Rs16 billion has been collected from electricity defaulters so far and that the crackdown will continue.
He stated that the boards of directors (BoDs) of all power distribution companies (DISCOs) had been changed.
He added that the management of DISCOs would be handed over to the private sector on a long-term concession.
The News reported earlier this week that the Petroleum Division was putting the finishing touches on a summary to increase the gas tariff, which will be presented in the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) meeting for approval.
According to top officials at the energy ministry, after ratification by the federal cabinet, the government will notify the new petrol prices not on July 1, 2023, but on the date the cabinet approves the new tariff.
“The top functionaries of the Petroleum Division have so far planned not to spare even the protected residential consumers just to ensure a zero increase in monthly flow to the circular debt in the gas sector. The protected consumers falling in the first four slabs, utilizing gas up to 0.25 HM3, 0.5 HM3, 0.6HM3 and 0.9hm3 may face an increase from Rs300 to less than Rs500 per MMBtu.”
