Lucky Cement has seen gas supply cut off at its Pezu plant as a result of the ongoing drive against gas theft undertaken by Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
In a letter to Pakistani Prime Minister, Imran Khan, the company management highlighted the major shutdown at its Pezu plant in Lucky Marwat district, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
“For the past almost four months, we are facing major gas shutdowns atour plant and we have been raising the issue continuously with relevant departments, but the situation has gone from bad to worse,” stated the letter.
“Since the commencement of April, we have experienced almost complete gas shutdown at our plant and in the past 15 days, we have not received gas for more than two days,” said the company.
“The company has no fault and believes that immediate restoration of gas supply is the only solution to the ongoing crisis. The management has highlighted the suspension of gas supply with the quarters concerned, but no tangible progress has been made yet,” a senior official of Lucky Cement said.
According to The Express Tribune, the letter said the management approached both the relevant ministry and SNGPL and it was told that gas closure was due to the disconnection of illegal connections in the main gas pipeline leading to the company's plant. “However, we have been given no timeline for how long this curtailment will continue,” according to the document. It added that a prolonged reduction in gas supply was causing challenges in terms of plant operations. It is claimed that the company is facing a monthly production loss of around 0.35Mt.
Gas prices are likely to increase by 75-80 per cent as a result of the shutdowns with a further 41 per cent hike in gas prices scheduled for July.
An SNGPL spokesman said gas supply in the area had been affected due to ongoing operation against widespread unaccounted-for-gas (UFG) losses. “Operation in the area against gas theft was indispensable as the company was facing a loss of two billion cubic feet annually due to UFG in these districts, which translated into INR4bn (US$57.6m).
The spokesman said gas supply was partially restored in the area between 6-18h but did not provide a timeframe in terms of the completion of the ongoing operation against UFG and subsequent restoration of gas supply to Lucky’s plant.
"We have contacted the company and assured them of providing full gas supply from the upcoming Monday for 18 days, whereas for the remaining 12 days of this month, we will provide them partial gas supply," the spokesman said.
