LAHORE: The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) is allegedly delaying the approval of an agreement meant for accessing its distribution network by a consortium formed to import LNG and supply to several member stations of the All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) in Punjab.

The delay is being seen as a move to stop private parties, especially the CNG sector, from importing LNG independently and instead keeping them dependent on the SNGPL for getting supplies to gas stations in the province, Dawn has learnt.

“We have been left with no option but to repeatedly request the SNGPL to approve the initial third party access agreement from its board of directors. However, the SNGPL has yet to process and place it before the board for approval,” APCNGA group leader and former chairman Ghayas Paracha said while talking to Dawn on Saturday. “It clearly reflects an ‘intentional delay’ on the part of the company that apparently doesn’t want private sector to import gas and distribute to their respective business community by using existing public sector gas distribution network,” he alleged.

The government in September last year had decided to accord permission to the private sector to independently import LNG and provide it to their consumers, thereby ending the monopoly of the SNGPL, Sui Southern Gas Company and others concerned on LNG purchase and distribution among various consumers. Prior to this, in 2016 the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) had for the first time allowed a private consortium — Universal Gas Distribution Company (UGDC) — to import or purchase LNG from suppliers and sell it to the CNG stations across the country for vehicular consumption. It had also issued a formal licence to UGDC — a joint venture of CNG operators — for sale of natural gas for an initial period of 10 years.

“The CNG sector’s total demand is about 200 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) that varies time to time keeping in view the weather. We have a total 3,400 gas stations/registered members, out of which 700 have closed business due to short supplies,” Mr Paracha claimed.

He said that once the SNGPL board approves the agreement, the UGDC will start getting LNG from suppliers to whom money has been paid in advance already.

On the other hand, a senior official of the Petroleum Division, requesting anonymity, dispelled the impression and said the signing of agreement was not an issue. The core problem is the access, which according to SNGPL, should be till the main line and not the other lines means for domestic supplies, he said. “The UGDC wants complete access including the domestic network which is not possible under the law. However, the Ogra is working on this issue and it is likely to be resolved soon,” the official explained.

He said another issue was the main pipeline which remained overburdened between August to March, including three peak winter months (November to January). In the off-peak months, the line remains busy in supply to domestic, commercial and industrial as well as the power sector. “If the company stops supply to the power plants and allows CNG sector to use, the public at large would get power on higher rates,” he highlighted. He added that another pipeline from North to South is being planned which will be helpful in resolving this issue.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2021