Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The two state-owned companies, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), have collectively prevented a volumetric loss of around 9,938 Million Cubic Feet (MMCF) gas against the UFG reduction target of 14,806 MMCF set for the Financial year 2019-20.
The SNGPL decreased the loss of 4,771 MMCF gas against its Unaccounted for Gas (UFG) reduction plan of 6,840 MMCF gas. “However, the percentage of UFG has increased slightly (0.34%), as compared to the same period of previous year, due to reduction in gas received,” according to an official report.
The report also cited the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic as one of the reasons that adversely affected the company performance regarding UFG control activities during the period under review.
The SSGC has decreased the volumetric loss of 5,167 MMCF gas against a target of 7,966 MMCF gas, and brought down its UFG losses ratio by 0.15% as compared to the previous year.
The present government has given the SNGPL and SSGC a three-year UFG reduction plan [2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22] to gradually overcome the losses of 18,246 MMCF gas and 40,629 MMCF gas respectively. The companies in total have been given the target to overcome the volumetric losses of 58,869 MMCF gas.
Whereas in the first quarter of the current fiscal year (2020-21), the two companies capped on the losses of around 2,476 MMCF gas against the 3,976 MMCF gas target.
During the three-month period, the SNGPL performed well and exceeded the target of 1,425 MMCF gas by reducing 1,567 MMCF gas losses, While the SSGC saved 909 MMCF gas against the target of 2,551. “The SSGC could not meet the targeted reduction owing to the ongoing activity of the network segmentation and rehabilitation of old leaking pipelines,” a senior official privy to petroleum sector development told this scribe.
However, he said, the company had been advised to expedite its efforts to ensure meeting the yearly targets.
Overall, the official said, the government had given the two companies a target of reducing the UFG ratio by 13.55 per cent (58,869 MMCF gas) during the three-year period.
The UFG, he said, was a phenomenon of gas loss that occurred due to various technical factors when gas flowed from fields to end consumers. “It is calculated as the difference between metered gas volume injected into the transmission and distribution network (Point of Dispatch/Delivery) and the metered gas delivered to the end consumers (Consumer Meter Station) during a financial year,” he elaborated.
In line with the government strategy to reduce line loss, he said, the gas companies were taking all possible measures to bring down the UFG ratio gradually in the coming years.
Under the strategy, the official said, inspection of all industrial, commercial and domestic consumers was being carried out regularly to prevent gas theft by taking prompt action against unauthorized connections and illegal networks.
The UFG, the official said, being one of the most critical elements in the gas sector, played a critical role in reducing the profitability of the gas transmission and distribution companies.
He said almost all industrial customers had been Cyber Locked by restricting unauthorized access to the customer meter stations and allowing entry to authorized personnel only.
Besides, he said, the Electronic Volume Correctors had been installed at almost all the industries for strict check and balance on gas consumption and abnormalities.
