Duration of gas load-shedding increased in Karachi

KARACHI: The duration of gas load-shedding has reached up to 22 hours a day in most of the areas in Karachi, ARY News reported on Saturday.

The officials of Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) said that it is facing a shortfall of around 40 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) from Bhit and Sawan gas fields due to technical reasons.

The shortfall has resulted in the increase in gas load-shedding in Karachi up to 22 hours a day. The SSGC officials said that it is in direct contact with the field operators and gas supply will be restored to Karachi areas at the earliest.

Read: SSGC advises citizens to buy costly LPG amid gas shortage

Karachiites are facing gas outages for up to 20 to 22 hours amid the cold weather conditions since December last year.

According to SSGC, the gap in demand and supply of natural gas topped 300 million metric cubic feet per day (mmcfd) as the total demand stands at 1,269 mmcfd compared to total supplies of 952 mmcfd.

In December, the SSGC had said that the shortfall reached 302 mmcfd for the first time, adding that the shortfall went up due to a fault at a gas field disrupting the supply of about 85 mmcfd of gas.

Read: Country’s gas reserves decreasing every year: Hammad Azhar

Moreover, the company had announced that the industrial areas in Sindh and Balochistan will observe a one-day closure on a rotational basis.

As per the notification, all industrial bodies including export units had agreed with the SSGC that a one-day planned industrial closure will be observed on a rotational basis by each industrial area for a period of one month, effective from today (December 26) till January 25, 2022.