RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: The Sui Northern Gas Pipe Lines Limited (SNGPL) is trying its best to provide uninterrupted gas supply to all sectors. According to the spokesperson of the company due to the current cold wave & foggy conditions across the country there is a sharp increase in gas consumption by the domestic sector due to use of gas for water and space heating.

Sudden increase in gas consumption by domestic consumers may lead to depletion of system and low pressure in tail end areas in exceptional circumstances.

The demand supply situation has considerably improved when compared to last several years owing to injection of RLNG in SNGPL system. The spokesperson said that RLNG is primarily meant for power, industrial & commercial sectors as its price is considerably higher than the system gas, which is provided to domestic consumers on subsidized tariff. Nevertheless, SNGPL has been injecting RLNG as system gas through peak shaving mechanism to domestic consumers which has helped in mitigating low pressure complaints to a larger extent.

It is highlighted that in certain instances, despite adequate supply of gas / RLNG, certain consumers do not get gas owing to following technical reasons which includes gas supply is made to all categories of consumers through an integrated distribution network; therefore, pressure tends to drop at the tail end areas of network when all the consumers try to utilize gas at the same time.

Gas supply system was initially designed keeping into account the cooking requirement only; however, with passage of time, consumption has drastically increased owing to use of gas for space and water heating, which can affect tail end consumers.

Use of gas compressor by domestic consumers deprives the entire neighbourhood from gas. The company is actively working on stopping use of illegal compressors; however, consumers are also requested to report such incidents on 1199. As result of extreme low temperatures icing & condensate gets accumulated at SMS level resulting in pressure drop in the vicinity.