Gas consumption increases by 19.7%: Miftah

ISLAMABAD, April 26 (APP):Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Dr Miftah Ismail Thursday said gas consumption in the country witnessed 19.7 percent increase during eight months of the current fiscal year (Jul-Feb)as compared to last fiscal year.
“During July-Feb, average natural gas consumption was about 3,837 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) including 632 MMCFD volume of Regassified Liquefied Natural Gas, compared to 3,205 MMCFD gas last year,” he said while unveiling the economic survey for the year 2017-18 here.
He said Pakistan had an extensive gas network of over 12,829 km transmission, 132,065 km distribution and 34,631 services gas pipelines to cater the requirement of more than 8.9 million consumers across the country.
The government is pursuing its policies for enhancing indigenous gas production as well as importing gas to meet the increasing demand of energy in the country, he added.
During the period, the adviser said, the two gas utility companies (SNGPL & SSGCL) had laid
328 km gas transmission network, 8,861 km distribution and 1,216 km services lines and connected
231 villages/towns to the gas network.
During the period under discussion, he said, the gas utility companies had invested
Rs 1,351 million on transmission projects, Rs 10,202 million on distribution projects and Rs 11,198 million on other projects bringing total investment to about Rs 22,751 million.
Additional gas connections of 428,282 were provided across the country including 426,721 domestic, 1,519 commercial and 42 Industrial.