Islamabad-Despite the second largest gas producing province in the country Balochistan was once again neglected as not a single inch of gas Transmission line was laid down in province during 2018-19. During FY 2018-19 an addition of 24 Km in Transmission Network was undertaken by SSGCL in the province of Sindh, however no new transmission line was added in the province of Balochistan, said OGRA annual report 2018-19 released here Tuesday.
In 2017-18, during the PML (N) government, SSGC had added 23 KM transmission line in Balochistan and 34 KM in Sindh. Similarly in 2018-19 SSGC had undertaken the addition of 660 Km in the distribution network and added only 157 Km distribution network in Balochistan while in Sindh 503 KM distribution network was added
Regarding the number of consumers added / towns & villages connected to the transmission line, the report said that as result of increase in network, 106,054 number of consumers were added whereas 55 towns and villages were connected to the gas network in Sindh and Balochistan during FY 2018-19.
In Balochistan only 9653 or only 9.5 per cent of the consumers were added to the network while in Sindh 96401 consumers were added to the system. Regarding the addition in Transmission & Distribution Network of SNGPL, the report said that in FY 2018-19, an addition of 81 Km was made by the SNGPL in its transmission network in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province only while in Punjab there was no addition. The Company added a total of 7,781 Km in its distribution network in Punjab and KP Provinces. In Punjab 6,211 KM distribution lines were added while in KP only 1570 KM lines were laid down.
As per the report 430,411 numbers of consumers were added whereas 366 new towns and villages were connected to gas network by SNGPL in Punjab and KP during FY 2018-19. In Punjab 365,762 consumers were added to the system while in KP 64649.
However in actual an increase of only 23,256 million occurred in assets during the time period, which is far less than the 49 billion asset increase in 2017-18. In OGRA granted licence for construction of a new Oil Refinery (Khyber Oil Refinery) with the capacity of 20,000 barrel per day designed on local crude during FY 2018-19. The said refinery is expected to be constructed within 5 years at the cost of $500 Million.
The Authority during FY 2018-19, granted eleven (11) licences to Lube Oil Blending Plants for construction & operation and eleven (11) licences to Lubricant Marketing Companies (LMCs) for import of lube oil in the country. The Authority, under OGRA Ordinance, 2002 and NGRA (Licensing) Rules, 2002, granted licence to M/s Trafigura Pakistan Ltd. for sale of natural gas / RLNG to various consumers in the Country. The Authority, in SNGPL’s DERR 2019-20, approved an amount of Rs14,964 million against the projected amount of Rs. 33,811 million ,for Laying of Distribution Mains 8000 Km, rehabilitation of existing lines, Laying of Distribution Mains on Cost Sharing Basis etc.
SSGCL projected an amount of Rs1,529 million for addition in normal Transmission Pipeline Network in its Petition of ERR for FY 2019-20. The Authority provisionally allowed an expenditure of Rs1,345 million for addition to the normal Transmission Network. SSGCL had projected an amount of Rs8,498 million for gas distribution system and related facilities and equipment in its Petition of ERR for FY 2019-20.
The Authority provisionally allowed addition to Gas Distribution System at Rs. 5,994 million for the said year. The Company had requested for an increase of Rs25,369 million in assets in its ERR Petition for FY 2018-19. OGRA allowed a sum of Rs. 11,609 million to the Company, however SSGCL actually incurred an amount of Rs9,585 million during the said year. Regarding LPG sector the report said that during fiscal year 2018-19, an estimated investment of Rs5.76 billion has been made in the LPG supply infrastructure whereas total investment in the sector till date, is estimated at about Rs36.44 billion.