Pakistan's Punjab province faces extreme gas crisis

Pakistan's Punjab province has been witnessing an extreme liquefied natural gas crisis in the country, local media reported on Saturday.

According to Dawn newspaper, the situation may improve if an LNG cargo ordered by Pakistan LNG Limited is received by January 10.

"The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) wants to provide gas uninterruptedly to domestic consumers," Dawn citing an official reported as saying.

"To meet the demand, three LNG cargos are required, but orders for two of the three cargoes were delayed. So, keeping in view the situation, it seems that only one cargo may arrive on January 10. And if it is also delayed, the situation may get out of control," it said.

Citing another source, Dawn reported that the domestic sector's demand in Punjab alone is 950MMCFD that includes over 500MMCFD of Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) and 450MMCFD of system gas (Indigenous gas).

Under the constitution, Punjab is supposed to use the indigenous gas that is surplus of the gas-producing provinces.

The gas crisis has forced the residents in Pakistan's Rawalpindi to bring meals from hotels, which have skyrocketed the prices of meals citing the pertaining gas issues for over two months, reported The News International.

The majority of compressed natural gas (CNG) stations that are running on LNG have also been closed down.

Most of the consumers are deprived of natural gas due to "gas sucking compressors," said the SNGPL Senior General Manager Mukhtar Shah, emphasising that he has given directed to take strict action against the users of "gas sucking compressors".

Meanwhile, sellers have also warned that the prices of firewood and LPG will continue to rise further due to the prevailing conditions.

Several "tandoors" have been shut down by their owners due to zero gas pressure, said Muthidda Naanbjais Welfare Association chief Muhammad Shafiq Qureshi, stressing that some are using expensive LPG or firewood to run their set-ups.

( With inputs from ANI )