ISLAMABAD: The compressed natural gas stations reopened in Sindh for 24 hours after six days, while motorists in Punjab and Islamabad got CNG supply for only 12 hours on Sunday after a break of 37 days.
According to a spokesperson of the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), CNG stations will remain open across Sindh till 8:00 am Monday.
Soon after the supply was restored, long queues of vehicles were seen outside the gas stations in Karachi and other parts of Sindh.
Previously, SSGC announced the opening of CNG stations at 8:00am from Thursday but later extended the closure for another 48 hours across Sindh. The stakeholders have already warned that the gas shortage will heighten in the ongoing month because of the authorities’ failure in getting hold of three cargoes of LNG.
Meanwhile, CNG stations across Punjab and Islamabad on Sunday resumed supply after a 37-day closure for a 12-hour period as gas supply at CNG stations was cut off at 6:00pm on the same day.
Speaking about the reasons for the gas shortage, Central Leader of CNG Association Fayyaz Paracha said that the supply was suspended for more than a month due to a severe shortage of gas in winter. He added that the commodity was being supplied to domestic consumers by stopping supply to CNG stations.
In order to ensure the business remains uninterrupted, Paracha hoped that the CNG sector would be allowed to import LNG itself next winter.
Earlier, the gas crisis in the country worsened after two international liquefied natural gas (LNG) suppliers refused to provide supplies for the month of February in the wake of the recent massive hike in gas prices. This bid default of the suppliers is associated with the recent supply shortages leading to high price volatility in the spot market coupled with extra buying in North Asia.
According to details, Dubai-based Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) backed out of its commitment to provide LNG cargo. The company had won an LNG cargo contract for delivery on February 23-24 with the lowest bid at 23.4331 percent of Brent (equal to $11.70 per MMBTU) but in the latest communication, the company said it would not be able to provide the LNG cargo to Pakistan.
However on last Friday, the Petroleum Division said that Pakistan LNG Limited, LNG procuring company, has arranged one more LNG cargo at a lower price for the month of February 2021 through an urgent tender.
In a statement, the Petroleum Division said that price is approximately 22 per cent lower than the price of the bidder that withdrew its bid earlier for the same cargo. This also puts to rest the argument that ordering very early necessarily guarantees a better price. To put things into perspective, the time period between the bid submission date and delivery date of cargo for the recent urgent tender was 35 days as compared with 49 days for the earlier tender in the same delivery window, said the statement.
