SSGC Suspends Gas Supply to Industrial Captive Power Units

The Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) has notified the industrial associations that it has suspended the gas supply to the industrial captive power units until further notice. SSGC states that the reason for the closure being the ‘acute shortage of gas and low pressure in the system’ due to which the supply to domestic and commercial sectors is impacted. Therefore, gas supply to the captive power industrial units shall remain closed. However, the Zero-rated and Rice Export industries stand exempted from the closure. The notice further states that a shutdown notice had also been served on October 23, 2018, to the relevant parties beforehand to enable them to make alternate arrangements. It is pertinent to mention here that Sindh Industrial Trading Estates (SITE) Association flayed the move to shut down the non-zero-rated industries. According to President SITE, Saleem Parekh, the Constitution of Pakistan maintained for the precedence of the gas-producing province over the other parts. Sindh produces 73 percent of total gas of Pakistan while consuming only 29 percent of this gas. The earlier notice to the Captive Power generating industry provided for the closure of gas for three months i.e. December, January, and February. He maintained that non-zero industries are a crucial part of the export value chain. Non-availability of gas for three months to such industries will drastically affect the export orders and cause a shortage of industrial raw material. “Sweeping statements such as shortage of gas from wellheads is meaningless. SSGC must quantify the shortfall and the logic of this linked to the available gas in the system,” said Parekh.