Karachi: Sui Southern is facing challenges due to the annual decline in natural gas reserves.
Sui Southern is facing a continuous decline in gas supply in its system due to the annual decline in the country’s natural gas reserves. The gas supply received by Sui Southern has decreased by 40 percent since the financial year 2017-18. A shortage of about 465 MMCFD of gas has been recorded during the last seven years.
According to the load management plan approved by the Economic Coordination Committee of the Government of Pakistan, the domestic, commercial and general industrial sectors have been given the highest priority for gas supply.
Sui Southern does not do any gas load shedding in the domestic sector, however, under the gas load management strategy, gas is shut down in the domestic sector from 10:00 PM to 5:00 AM to maintain line peaks for the next day and to better utilize the natural gas pressure used during cooking hours.
In the situation of continuous shortage of natural gas, the company makes every effort to provide the required gas to its domestic customers, especially during cooking hours, which also includes the customers located at the end of the company’s distribution network.
In Balochistan, the demand for natural gas increases manifold during the winter season. Apart from cooking, natural gas is widely used to keep our environment and surroundings warm to protect us from the harshest cold.
To meet the growing demand for natural gas in Balochistan, Sui Southern is taking all measures to ensure adequate gas supply to the province. Sui Southern has launched an extensive rehabilitation program across its franchise areas, with priority given to old networks located in the tail end.
Over the past two years, Sui Southern has completed the rehabilitation of its 2,200 km long gas distribution network in Thal, Shahdadkot, Skrand, Dera Bugti and various areas of Karachi.
To further improve the future, Sui Southern is actively working to rehabilitate 4,500 km of gas distribution pipeline network over the next three years. These measures are aimed at resolving the issues of low gas pressure, especially in the tail end areas.
Two key tail end areas of Karachi, Defense and Lyari, have been given priority under this rehabilitation project. The rehabilitation of pipelines in Defense has already been completed, while 50 percent of the work in Lyari has been completed and the remaining work is expected to be completed by June 2025. The rehabilitation of distribution pipelines is in full swing in the areas of North Nazimabad and North Karachi, Hala, Sanjhuru, Old Sukkur, Kandhkot and some areas of Hyderabad city, which is expected to be completed by June 2025.
