Gas supply closure

Published: December 14, 2010

The closure of gas supply to industry by Sui Northern Gas company, and the
prediction to restore it in four days, show its inability to juggle loads during a
time when loadshedding should be put in effect. Though this is loadshedding,
hitting industries in Punjab has meant that its production will be badly
affected. This is a national loss and it also means that the province’s
industries have been unfairly targeted, at a time when the export proceeds of
industrial production have become all the more essential. It is clear that the
industries will be unable to meet their commitments to foreign buyers
because of this deprivation of the source of relatively cheap energy. The units
cannot switch to fuel, because that is both expensive and imported, and is of
no help in remaining competitive in markets abroad. The excuse being given
by SNGPL is the domestic consumer. It must be remembered that this is in
addition to hikes in fuel prices, which have also worked to increase the prices
of exports. Already, power plants on dual cycle have been deprived of gas,
and will have to operate on furnace oil, with harmful consequences for the
import bill as well as the circular debt problem. 
The gas supply has also been shut down for CNG stations, even though it was
the government itself which had first encouraged motorists to switch their
vehicles over to CNG from petrol. Now, by shutting down the stations, the
government itself is making motorists follow the environmentally unsound
practice of going back to petrol. The CNG station owners have reacted by
announcing a strike against the increase by the government of the compulsory
shutdown of stations from one to two days, but that will not solve the
problem.
The crisis is ironic when the government is committed to both the gaslines
from Iran and Turkmenistan. It is only with an assured supply of energy, in
this case of gas, that industrial units can carry out their activities. The
government must concert measures which help industry, not harm it.