The News reported that the Sui Southern Gas Company is planning a Natural Gas Efficiency Project in cooperation with the World Bank to bring phased reduction in unaccounted for gas losses over 5 year period.

Officials said that the project is being evaluated and will get off the ground soon. UFG losses have been the major impediment in the way of the company’s efforts to augment transmission and distribution network across Sindh and Balochistan.

They said that the company’s UFG percentage has risen due to reduction in bulk sale of uninfected gas by about 26%. Pakistan has requested the World Bank for a loan of about USD 200 million to enhance the supply of natural gas by reducing physical and commercial losses of gas in the pipeline system.

World Bank report said that high levels of UFG losses contribute to the worsening gas crisis in the country. UFG in Pakistan was recorded at about 9% last year compared with around 2% in the countries of Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The beneficiaries of the NGEP would mainly be the consumers of natural gas in Sindh and Balochistan which would have more gas available with reduced UFG cost in their tariff and adequate gas pressure.

Officials said that the project is expected to be approved by the executive board of the World Bank by the end of this year. The benefits to Pakistan will be more gas availability for power generation and lower greenhouse emissions. The household gas appliance industry in the country generally produces low-efficiency appliances which fail to meet Pakistan’s thermal efficiency standards.

(Sourced from www.thenews.com.pk)