KARACHI – Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmed Sheikh in his letter to Federal Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar clarified that the Government of Sindh does not support and rejects any attempt to alter the present arrangement of WACOG for natural gas produced in the country.
After a zoom meeting with Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar, Special Assistant to Prime Minister for Development and special Initiative Khalid Mansoor and Special Assistant to Prime Minister for Power Mr Tabish Gohar, provincial minister for Energy Mr. Imtiaz Shaikh wrote a letter to federal Minister for Energy Mr. Hammad Azhar that any attempt to add RLNG in the present WACOG prices with any ring-fenced options with Tier-I consumers of indigenous natural gas would phenomenally elevate the gas prices upward which is detrimental to and adversely impact domestic, commercial, industrial and CNG sector consumers in Sindh.
He requested the federal to refrain from adding RLNG prices with the present WACOG pricing mechanism of indigenous natural gas. As per existing practice, RLNG consumers (i-e Tier-1) shall continue to be ring-fenced and kept separate from the regular consumers (i-e Tier-1) utilizing indigenous gas under WACOG.
Provincial Minister for Energy Mr. Imtiaz Shaikh further said in his letter that the Government of Sindh demands the constitutional rights of the people of Sindh for priority overutilization of natural gas from the wellheads located in the province, in pursuance of Article 158 of the Constitution of Pakistan, shall be safeguarded in letter and spirit.
He added that the natural gas allocation quota of Sindh in the SSGCL system shall be increased so that the people of the province can reap the economic benefits of indigenous natural gas.
Mr. Imtiaz Shaikh further said in his letter to federal minister Hammad Azahar that the natural gas consumers in Sindh shall also be provided with the proportional cost subsidy for the quantity of gas produced in the province, over which Sindh has the first right of utilization, but supplied to other parts and also utilized in power generation which is added in the national grid and production of fertilizer whose benefits are enjoyed by the entire country, so, people of Sindh may adequately be compensated for the portion of the gas which is supplied to other parts or utilized for the purposes whose benefits are spread over the entire country either by providing subsidy in natural gas or power tariffs or subsidy in fertilizer prices.
He said that SSGCL may also be directed to complete all gasification schemes which are pending since 2010 whose construction cost has already been paid by the Government of Sindh and it shall also be directed to accept new gasification schemes which are being refused for since last over five years despite Govemment’s assurance of payment of cost over and above per Customer cost criteria fixed by OGRA.
Imtiaz Shaikh said that SSGCL may further be directed not to carry out load-shedding in Sindh for the consumers of gas especially industrial and CNG.
He said that provincial representation in corporate bodies dealing with oil and gas matters, in pursuance of Article 172(3), may be ensured. The government of Sindh shall be accorded due representation in OGRA, PPL, HDIP, PSO, refineries, etc., provincial government’s right to equally manage local oil and gas sector, and issuance of its own gas management and allocation policy be acknowledged.
