ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to suspend gas supply to industries including compressed natural gas (CNG) stations and fertilizer sector from November 2014 to January 2015 to ensure continuous supply to domestic consumers in winter.
However, sources in Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources have said that the government would supply some gas to industries, if under-construction liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Port Qasim become operational by January next year. They said that Elengy Terminal Pakistan Limited would likely to complete construction of the terminal by end of March 2015, but the government has asked the Company to finish work as soon as possible.
It is pertinent to mention here that the government had also decided to construct an LNG terminal at Gwadar Port with a capacity to handle up to one billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) gas and to transport the same to upstream country through a 700-kilometer long pipeline to be built up to Nawabshah.
Meanwhile, the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) has issued new schedule for the CNG stations in Punjab and decided to restore gas supply from Thursday 6am to Wednesday 6am.
The CNG was also available for vehicles on Monday for 24 hours. Similarly, gas supply would be restored from October 17 (6am) to October 19 (6am) for general industry located in Zone 1-Lahore, Sahiwal and Sheikhupura, while industrial units in Faisalabad, Sargodha, Bahawalpur, Multan, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Islamabad and Rawalpindi (Zone II) will be provided gas on October 14 (6am) to October 16 (6am).