ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet is expected to approve gas load management plan for three winter months envisaging complete gas closure to transport, fertiliser and industry in Punjab from December 1 to February 28.

A senior government official told Dawn that the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources had forwarded a summary to the prime minister who has given a green signal and desired the formal decision should be taken by the ECC.

A meeting of the ECC is now scheduled for November 27 (Wednesday) to approve the proposal for implementation with effect from December 1.

He said the ECC, led by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, would also be presented with a proposal for additional allocation of foreign exchange to meet higher petrol demand, particularly in Punjab, because of non-availability of compressed natural gas (CNG).

He said the fertiliser sector would remain unaffected because of routine shutdown of fertiliser plants for annual turnaround.

The government would need to import up to 70,000 tonnes of additional petrol per month to bridge this additional demand that would jump from 300,000 tonnes per month to about 370,000 tonnes. At present, petrol stocks of about 14-day coverage were available in the country that would need to be increased without further delay.

The official said the power sector would continue with current gas supplies as it had been kept at second position on gas supply priority after domestic and commercial consumers. He said the gas supply to power sector was important because of negligible hydropower generation and to contain rising electricity tariffs.

The official said the current gas supply mechanism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would remain unchanged because of a status quo order issued by the Peshawar High Court while it would be illogical to stop gas supply to transport sector in Balochistan because there were only two CNG stations in Quetta.

He said the gas supply to CNG sector in Sindh had already been reduced to 4 days a week that would remain unchanged but duration of gas curtailment could be increased only in case of a major crisis.

This would be first time in history that complete gas shutdown would be applied to industry, fertiliser and industrial CPPs for three winter months although they are not legally entitled to get gas supplies during these months because of their nine-month supply contract. These sectors used to get full gas supplies in the past because of their political influence and to ensure maximum exports.

Officials said the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) system was anticipated to face a gas shortfall of 1.4 billion cubic feet per day (BCFD) while Sui Southern Gas Company would face about 400 million cubic feet (mmcfd) of shortfall during December to February period.

The total gas shortfall was therefore, estimated at 1.8 BCFD during peak winter.

He said that even though the CNG sector had round-the-year gas supply contracts but the government has been applying gas cuts to the sector for more than two years now to divert available supplies to domestic consumers and power sector to ensure cheaper power generation cost.