Gas Pipeline Blast in Baluchistan.

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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Heard the news from a friend.

According to the correspondent, three rockets were fired; have destroyed some Gas Pipelines to NWFP and Punjab. Damage recovery have already been started.

This is bad. Tribes dude lauched rockets over domestic problem, as source says. Is it really true? Zakk speak out, dude.

Rockets hit gas pipeline

ROCKETS fired by unknown assailants have ruptured a gas pipeline in Pakistan, threatening supplies to the capital Islamabad, officials said.

One official said at least three rockets were fired, hitting the main pipeline near Dera Bugti, in Baluchistan province.

“Paramilitary officials and engineers from Sui Northern Gas Pipeline (SNGPL) are trying to repair the damage,” a security official said.

An engineer from SNGPL said the damage could disrupt gas supplies to Islamabad, the nearby city of Rawalpindi and Peshawar.

“We are trying to control the damage,” Saifuddin Bugti added.

The 5215km Sui pipeline network is a major supplier of domestic gas.

One official linked the attack to problems with local tribal people over electricity supplies, which were stopped a few days ago due to non-payment of bills.

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this ****in Bugti tribe......

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Another nail in Pakistani head when they try and argue their business case tell business community how safe a international gas pipe line will be through Pakistan.

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A terrible event, what's lucky is that nobody has been injuired. Whoever is responsible should be punished. It may be the acts of individuals so we shouldn't inflame a tense situation by accusing people or whole tribes as Sharabi did.

On another point whether it's in the FATA or Dera Bugti region, why has the provincial or federal government allowed these groups access to weapons like RPG's or anti tank rockets. They should be allowed to carry weapons as that is part of their culture. But it says a lot for the competence of the local Political Agents that people are allowed to wlak around with caches of heavy weapons.

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Zakk: *
...On another point whether it's in the FATA or Dera Bugti region, why has the provincial or federal government allowed these groups access to weapons like RPG's or anti tank rockets....
[/QUOTE]

Because in FATA, the federal government's law does not apply and never will. FATA have their own local laws, separate from Islamabad.

6

OK,

Now tell me again how the conflict in Afghanistan was about oil, and gas and pipelines?

You cannot have pipelines in areas that are not secure. End of story. If you cannot secure pipelines in Pakistan, how do you expect them to be secure in Afghanistan? Unfortunately the lack of security will prevent both Pakistan and Afghanistan from potentially very lucrative royalty arrangements. Take out a gun and blow off your own foot.....

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Mr New Delhi..since you haven't been to the Tribal areas you don't seem to understand how the system works. The Tribal areas are autonomous, they are not Independant. Certain Pakistani Laws do extend to that region, and the area is controlled by a political agent appointed by the Pakistani goovernment. They are usually well aware of where the weapons are but don't want to act becase there jobs make a lot of money. The same applies to Indian troops deployed in Indian governed areas, why didn't the Indian police act in Gujarat or during the Bombay riots?

And remember the Tribal area people iare not being occupied or attacked by the Army the way the Indian Army is in Kashmir or was in East Punjab. They are working with the people to combat an enemy which wants to destablise sneak in and launch attacks.

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Ohioguy: *
OK,

Now tell me again how the conflict in Afghanistan was about oil, and gas and pipelines?

You cannot have pipelines in areas that are not secure. End of story. If you cannot secure pipelines in Pakistan, how do you expect them to be secure in Afghanistan? Unfortunately the lack of security will prevent both Pakistan and Afghanistan from potentially very lucrative royalty arrangements. Take out a gun and blow off your own foot.....
[/QUOTE]

Zakk,

Thank you very much for your input.

Greetings Ohio Dude,

Long time no see? Anyway, I'd like to clear this up. What happened in Bugthi tribe was awful. Keep in mind, Pipelines from Turkmenistan aren't going to pass the Bugthi tribes location.

On another note, Pakistan is not subjected to take care of Afghanistan's Pipeline. We have to take care of ours. They have to secure it by themseleves. As article mentioned; and I hope you have read post of Zakk, it was as accident; over not paying an electricity bill.

Last time I heard, Gas supply is going to be resume soon to Province Punjab and NWFP tonight or the other day.

Be safe.

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PT bhai,

This attack really could have been one of the first "terrorist" attacks on infrastructure that I can remember, accident or not. But the resulting economic damage is notable. Basically anybody with a high powered rifle, or even worse, an RPG can interrupt the supply of an above ground pipeline, and because the pipelines are so long, they are hard, if not impossible, to patrol and defend along their length.

I would suspect that this is the first of many such attacks, regardless of who is responsible, or where the pipeline is. All over the world these things are vulnerable.....

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what i have gathered is that this is the result of a feud between two tribes, Mazari and Bugti...

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Ohio dude,

There were two feudal groups, who got in a fight. Their presence exists even before the creation of Pakistan.

I think both of them lauched attack on each other on little things; which ended up hurting Industries in Provinces. This kind of attack is second time in 45 days. I hope, Govt. take serious notice of it.

Supply to Industries stopped: Rocket attack on Gas Pipelines

LAHORE, Jan 21: The Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) on Tuesday stopped supply to all CNG stations and industrial areas in Punjab and the NWFP after two of its four main supply lines on the Punjab-Balochistan border were damaged as a result of sabotage.

This is second attack on the pipeline in almost 45 days. The pipelines supplying gas to the Sui Southern Gas Pipeline Limited (SSGPL) in the area were attacked on Dec 10 also. Not much damage was done.

According to details, a rocket was fired at the pipelines at 7.30pm that hit the Sui-Kashmore gasoline about 18 miles from the Sui field in Doli, Rajanpur district.

The Sui field provides about 45 per cent gas through two lines of 24" and 30" diameter which have been ruptured, interrupting around 200 million cubic feet of supply from the Sui and Pirkho gas fields.

**There are also reports of an armed clash between the Bugti and Mazari tribes which apparently resulted in the attack. But sources in Balochistan insist it was an act of sabotage. **

According to reports, **both pipelines had exploded after the attack which interrupted 500 million cubic feet to the SNGPL. But, according to the SNGPL claims, the interruption was partial and the company would be able to manage the load by snapping supplies to 500 big industries. This is in addition to the 200 industries already shut down by it, taking the total to 900 out of total 2500 on the SNGPL system. **

The company had not stopped supply to domestic and commercial consumers until the filing of this report.

At present, total demand of the SNGPL stands at 1,400 million cubic feet against the total supply of 1,050. But the Tuesday sabotage has taken it further down by 200 million cubic feet. Shut down of 200 industries had saved it 300 million cubic feet. It was also able to increase supply by 50 million cubic feet by increasing compression of gas. But today’s attack has also taken away the option of increasing compression, at least from the Sui sector. Thus creating problem of another 20 million cubic feet.

**According to a company press release, repair teams have been mobilized and the company hopes to restore supplies within the next 36 hours. **

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  • Another blast today. This time it is hurting supplies to Baluchistan and Sindh. However, the leekage got under-control by Sui.

  • Fire under control; supply to resume today; Punjab, NWFP face severe shortage; as article says.

  • This is gettin’ ugly.

Another gas pipeline blasted in Sui

JACOBABAD: Another gas pipeline in Sui gas field of Balochistan was blasted in Sui by unknown armed men on Wednesday afternoon, partially cutting off the gas supply to some areas of Sindh and Balochistan.

Some unknown terrorists set some explosive under pipeline No ‘26 Wheel’ and blasted it. This caused leakage of gas and suspension of gas supply to various cities of Sindh and Balochistan. However, the leakage was controlled by the Sui gas field authorities.

This was the second attack in less than 24 hours on the pipeline. On late Tuesday, two main pipelines were blown up in a rocket attack. Because of the blasts, gas supply had already been partially cut off to the Punjab and the NWFP.

Earlier, a team of technical staff of Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) arrived Rajanpur to repair the damaged gas pipeline. The blast not only damaged the pipeline but also caused a huge fire and supply of gas to the Punjab and the NWFP was suspended. Till filing of this report, repair work was underway.

The incident of damage to the pipeline took place in **‘B’ area of Zila Rajanpur in the limits of Doly Police Check Post. Heavy contingents of Rangers and police commandos were deployed to cordon the place of incident and provide security to the SNGC technical team.

The incident occurred as Mazari and Bugti tribes, due to old enmity, had indulged in exchange of firing rockets at each other and some of the rockets hit the pipeline causing its destruction. Political Agent ‘B’ Area, Rajanpur Chaudhry M Aslam told The News on telephone that the SNGC team was busy repairing the pipeline till late on Wednesday and was attempting to restore gas supply to the Punjab and the NWFP. No case was registered against anybody till the filing of this report.

Sources told The News that the gas wasted in the fire caused loss of billions of rupees to the government. It may be recalled that it was the fourth time that the main gas pipeline from Sui to the Punjab and onwards to the NWFP was destroyed.

Agencies add: Officials said the fire has been brought under control after several hours of work and the engineers are repairing the pipeline but gas supplies are still suspended. They said at least seven active gas wells in the Sui fields had to be shut down to avoid further damage and supplies to the Punjab province and to the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) has been cut by half.

“The engineers of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines company are repairing the damaged pipeline and gas supplies to all the affected industrial units will be restored during the next 24 hours,” Mohammed Ibrar, company General Manager in Multan said.

Meanwhile, police have launched hunt for the tribesmen who fired rockets on pipeline, Chaudhry Mohammed Aslam, an official in Multan told the Associated Press.

“Security has been beefed up and investigations are on to track down the culprits but there have been no arrests so far,” Brigadier Javed Cheema, who heads the ministry’s National Crises Management Cell, told AFP.

The suspension and shortage of gas supply affected life in the Punjab and NWFP. People in Lahore experienced hardships on Wednesday as the low-pressured supply badly affected the working of households, hotels, besides gas-run industries.

Asim Yasin adds from Islamabad: The government on Wednesday constituted a high-level committee to probe into the Sui gas pipeline blast incident. According to an official announcement issued here, Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Chaudhry Nouraiz Shakoor directed the authorities concerned to mobilise extraordinary efforts for early restoration of the gas supply which is expected within 48 hours tentatively, and make appropriate security measures for gas transmission.

According to our Rawalpindi correspondent, several parts of the Punjab and NWFP faced severe shortage of gas on Wednesday. Residential consumers were the worst affected despite claim by SNGPL officials that only supply to industry and CNG stations is being stopped.

The cities of Rawalpindi, Lahore and Peshawar witnessed scenes of desperate citizens trying to find the fuel for cooking purposes. The commuters also faced hardships as gas was not available at the CNG stations.

There are two lines, one of 24 inch diameter and another of 30 inch diameter, passing through a valve assembly which were damaged completely due to the blast with the result that both lines had to be shut off using the valves at Sui field and Indus crossing at Guddu.

The blast caused an extensive fire at the valve assembly and completely destroyed it and created a 50 ft x 100ft x50 trench. Sui field Pirkoh and Lori fields supply approximately 600 MMCFD of gas out of the total input into the company’s system of about 1120 MMCFD. The remaining gas is supplied by Qadirpur field, Dhodak field and the gas fields located in the Potohar and the supply from the latter was not affected by the blast near Sui fields.

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Zakk: *
It may be the acts of individuals so we shouldn't inflame a tense situation by accusing people or whole tribes as Sharabi did.

[/QUOTE]

Meray bhai...its a known fact, Akbar Bugti's havin problems with the government. Last year Dera Bugti was under seige, the army had surrounded the place, for some reason. I believe they were harboring someone...dont remember exactly. And to counter attack...they always have a go at these pipelines. Most of the times they miss...but this time they hit it right on the nose, and the gas supply to the entire country has been effected.

You know what kind of a person he is....there are just so many mineral reserves in that part of the world. And the only thing preventing the country to extract its own reserves is Akbar Bugti. He is the Sardar of the tribe...if he does somethin bad, the whole tribe gets to be blamed. Thats the way it works.

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The impact of these gas-pipeline attacks seems to be way more than domestically than long-term economy, I had understood (remember $ 1bn annually down the drain).

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Sharabi: In NO way are all Bugti's responsible for the acts of a small group of them. Are all Punjabis responsible for Nawaz Sharif?.all Sindhis responsible for Benazir?..All Pashtuns responsible for the MMA?

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When did I say that all Bugtis are responsible, there are hundreds of innocent people out there....women, children etc.

But what I am trying to say that guy represents his people.

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Situation is gettin’ better.

Gas Supply from Sui Restored

ISLAMABAD: The gas supply, disconnected on Tuesday after a rocket attack at Sui, was restored here on Thursday.

“The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) has successfully completed repair work on both main transmission lines, which carry gas from Sui field,” Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Nouraiz Shakoor announced in a statement issued here.

The sources said at least 50 per cent gas supply of Punjab and NWFP comes from Sui, 40 per cent from Qadirpur field in Sindh while 10 per cent is obtained from small gas fields in Potohar region.

The Sui fields produce around 800 million cubic feet of gas daily. Affected consumers on Wednesday turned to coal, wood and kerosene oil for cooking and heating homes in the near-zero winter temperatures. Authorities of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd said only industries were affected. But consumers throughout Pakistan, including Islamabad, complained of a gas shortage or no gas at all.

“We have not stopped gas for household consumers, but low pressure is of course causing problems for them,” MuhammAd Ibrar, company general manager, told The Associated Press. “We are trying our best to solve this problem as soon as possible,” but the fire on Wednesday had complicated repairs.

Meanwhile, Security officials in Balochistan said that tribesman from the Bugti tribe fired the rockets in a deliberate act of sabotage after authorities cut off their electricity supplies because they had not paid their bills.

But on Thursday they said the **rockets may have hit the pipelines accidentally during a clash between the Bugtis and the rival Mazari tribe. Three separate probes are under way to determine whether a deliberate act of sabotage had taken place, ** the interior ministry said.

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Zakk: *
Sharabi: In NO way are all Bugti's responsible for the acts of a small group of them. Are all Punjabis responsible for Nawaz Sharif?.all Sindhis responsible for Benazir?..All Pashtuns responsible for the MMA?
[/QUOTE]

In no way are groups of people responsible for the actions of one. Zakk, you and I both know the terse situation that has always existed in Baluchistan. We should support an educated, political class from Baluchistan not powerful men like Bugti. If feudalism is a problem in the rest of Pakistan, then Baluchistan takes the cake in that regard.

I take issue with you characterizing the MMA with NS and BB...atleast give them a chance to govern, if they make mistakes then you can put them in any category you want. BB/NS wreaked our country 2 times already, their done for.

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EDITORIAL: The Sui gas crisis
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk
The country’s gas supply was disrupted when the Sui gas pipeline was blasted Tuesday at Rajanpur (Punjab) about 18 miles from the gas fields at Sui in Balochistan. It was officially stated that a fight between the Bugti and Mazari tribes of the area caused the damage to the pipeline complex. Supply was cut to half the country’s domestic users and the industry in Punjab was brought to a halt. On Wednesday another pipeline was blown up which caused the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline (SNGPL) to shut down the rest of the pipelines. Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali said in Quetta that the act of sabotage had been carried out “by our own people”. Needless to say, the law-enforcing agencies from Punjab and the army and rangers have landed in the affected area to guard the pipeline while the repairs are being carried out.

Interestingly, Nawab Akbar Bugti, chief of the Bugti tribe, focused less on the inter-tribal feud highlighted by the government and more on the “theft” of the gas from the province by the federal government. He told the BBC that the gas had been stolen from Balochistan for the past 40 years and the Baloch were now within rights to take what was theirs. He voiced a common Baloch complaint when he said that no adequate compensation was offered to the province while royalties were paid to other provinces for the use of their natural resources. He was referring to the royalties being paid by WAPDA to the NWFP for the electricity it makes from dams located in the Frontier. He also touched base with the Baloch nationalist demand that full autonomy be given to the province including the right to sell its natural resources on the international market.

Forty years ago when the Sui gas company began extracting, a number of complicated agreements were reached between it and the local tribes with the mediation of the federal government. Each tribe located in the territory covered by the gas fields was given special rights of employment. This included complex procedures of employment, salaries, retirements, pensions, and quotas. Over the years one side or the other violated these agreements. From quotas that the tribes thought unfair or favouring the rival tribe, to the replacement of those retiring, and the tendency to receive salaries without reporting to work — a whole lot of negative baggage accumulated between the gas company and the tribes. Needless to say, the tribal leaders used their position to assert their authority, particularly Sardar Akbar Bugti whose tribe could most affect the security of the pipelines running through its area.

The putative and real natural resources of Balochistan have been an element in the Baloch nationalism in the past. The “separatist” side of it was predicated on the feeling of “self-sufficiency” that these resources would bestow on the rulers. But this was undermined by an early split that occurred between the Baloch and Pashtun components of this nationalism. After the influx into Balochistan of the Afghan Pashtun during the wars in Afghanistan, the population balance was changed in favour of the latter. The Islamising effect of the new population also proved to be a big factor in this scattering of the nationalist-separatist focus. The rise of nationalism on the basis of the “imagination” of self-sufficiency through natural resources is not unknown in the world. The separatist movement in Assam in India is rooted in the dream of “repossession” of the oil and gas fields in the state. Assam produces almost all the oil India has.

The current supply crisis after damage to the pipeline should alert us to the need of arriving at a durable solution to the problem. It should be kept in mind that attacks on the pipeline have been a monthly routine this year. The federal government should have planned some line of action seeing that the incidents did not bode well for the new projects it had allowed in Balochistan. So far this year more than half of the foreign investment has come through companies prospecting in Balochistan for oil and gas and other natural resources. Sui meets 45 per cent of our gas needs as we convert our powerhouses progressively from oil to gas. We have also signed international agreements over two pipelines out of which one will bring gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan through Balochistan.

The need is now for the federal government to enter once again into negotiations with the tribes. All sides of the case should be studied and a new revamped arrangement should be reached between the province and the centre, and the former should be responsible for its fundamental understandings and its effective enforcement. In economic terms, what has happened at Rajanpur is a part of the law-and-order deficit faced by the country in all provinces. Unless we bring the warring tribes of Sui under control the virus can spread to other areas where provincial feelings run high over federal projects. The industrial stoppage and the consumers’ recourse to alternative fuels in the aftermath of the incident will run into billions. We simply cannot allow this to happen again. *

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Interestingly, Nawab Akbar Bugti, chief of the Bugti tribe, focused less on the inter-tribal feud highlighted by the government and more on the “theft” of the gas from the province by the federal government.

Nawab's intentions speaks for it self.