ISLAMABAD-Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGC) customers will face a gas shortage for approximately 16 days (August 12-27), as the company’s supplies will be significantly impacted by yearly maintenance and shutdown at the gas field.
According to an SSGC spokesperson, the shutdown will cause a 107 mmcfd shortage over the entire Annual Turnaround Plan (ATA) timeframe and a 50 mmcfd loss during the two partial ATAs. Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) has announced a ‘Annual Turnaround Plan 2023’ for its Kunnar-Pasakhi Deep (KPD) gas field, stating that it will be shut down for 16 days in three phases, from August 12 to 27, 2023.
OGDCL has scheduled one full ATA of eight days, leading to a complete gas shutdown of the field, and two partial ATAs of four days each. As a result, SSGC will suffer a 107 mmcfd deficiency over the full ATA period and a 50 mmcfd shortfall for each of the two partial ATAs.
Since the demand-supply gap in natural gas is already affected by the constant depletion of gas reserves, this ATA will exacerbate the problem by causing many customers, particularly those located at the tail end of SSGC’s gas distribution lines, to experience low gas supplies and pressure. According to an SSGC representative, the business will continuously monitor the situation and will do all possible to efficiently manage the gas load by assuring maximum available supplies to all of its customers. Furthermore, during the three phases of the ATA, SSGC would keep its customers in Sindh and Balochistan aware of supply-side changes.
According to the information, SSGC has been serving its customers in the franchise provinces of Sindh and Balochistan since 1954. For supply across its franchise territories, the company buys petrol in bulk from more than a dozen local and foreign exploration and production (E&P) companies. The transmission system of SSGC consists of over 4,143 kilometers of high-pressure pipeline.