CNG stations shut for 24 hours

KARACHI: Faced with extraordinarily low gas pressure, the Sui Southern Gas Company on Tuesday announced yet another 24-hour shut down of gas supply to CNG stations in Sindh, which will include Karachi and Balochistan. The outage started from 9 am Wednesday and will continue till 9 am Thursday, December 22nd.

This is the fourth CNG shutdown of the current season in the city and other parts of the province: a problem that started ever since the SSGC started facing serious pressure problems in its gas supply system due to peak winter-related consumption of gas in the domestic sector. “The decision to discontinue gas to the CNG stations on a periodic basis follows an extraordinarily low pressure situation that has badly affected overall gas supply in Karachi and interior Sindh,” said an official statement of SSGC issued on Tuesday. The SSGC also cites the recent decision of Economic Coordination Committee of the federal cabinet for shutdown of gas to CNG pumps.

“SSGC realizes that the customers face an acute situation, and the company is taking all actions to ensure uninterrupted gas supply” said the statement.

The SSGC management also requested all stakeholders concerned to fully support the company in handling the low pressure situation more effectively. All the previous shutdown of CNG stations in the province saw long queues of vehicles at fuel pumps in the city in the hours before and after the scheduled shutdown. On all shutdowns the public faced serious problems in travelling due to the lack of public transport facilities as a majority of intra-city buses, minibuses, and coaches were recently converted to the cheaper option of CNG.

The last shutdown of gas at CNG stations in the province lasted for 24 hours till 9 am December 17.

Although the agreement between the SSGC, KESC and Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry — brokered by the Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Dr Asim Hussain — had called for the weekly two-day closure of CNG stations to save gas for KESC, this decision was not fully implemented owing to resistance from CNG station owners, transporter associations and other concerned public quarters.

Since the November 26th agreement, the longest closure of CNG stations in the province was for 43 hours: on that occasion CNG stations remained shut from 11 pm on November 29th till 6 pm December 1st. Though the plan was to curtail gas supply to CNG pumps for 48 hours, the shutdown time was decreased by five hours on the insistence of CNG station owners’ associations and other concerned quarters.