No CNG for Punjab, federal capital in Nov, Dec, Jan: minister

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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**ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Tuesday announced the suspension of gas supply to the CNG sector in the Punjab, including Islamabad, for three months starting from November.

Talking to media persons here, Abbasi said all CNG stations in the province will be closed from November to January due to the shortage of gas in winter.

Pakistan suffers from chronic gas shortages. Many Pakistanis have converted their cars to CNG, depending on it as a cheaper alternative to petrol and diesel.The switch to CNG by both private and commercial sectors as an alternative fuel for motor transport has hampered an already burdened gas supply.

“Our first priority is domestic consumers and the power producing companies during the winter, so there will be no gas for motor transport in the Punjab for three months starting November,” Abbasi said.

Talking about the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project, Abbasi said Pakistan had asked Iran for $2 billion in financing to build its side of the pipeline.The Iranian side of the $7.5-billion project is almost complete, but Pakistan has run into repeated problems paying for the 780 km section to be built on its side of the border.

“All these issues will be discussed in a meeting, which we have requested, but so far there is no reply from the Iranian side,” Abbasi said.“They were busy in cabinet formation and I hope that this meeting will take place within this month.”

It is the latest setback to the long-delayed section of the pipeline that would link the two neighbours and help ease Pakistan’s natural gas shortages.US has warned that the project would risk triggering sanctions aimed at Iran. But Abbasi denied coming under pressure from Washington since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif came to power in the May general election.

“Americans have not so far talked about this pipeline with us at any level,” he said.Asked if Pakistan was hoping to complete the project before the December 2014 deadline, Abbasi replied, “Anything is possible, if we have the resources.” “It depends on the financing and availability of the machinery,” he added.

Iran has the second largest gas reserves in the world but has been strangled by a Western embargo that has seen its crude exports halved in the past year.

It currently produces around 600 million cubic metres of gas per day, almost all of which is consumed domestically due to lack of exports. Its only foreign client is Turkey, which buys about 30 million cubic metres of gas per day.Abbasi said the government had sought bids from Pakistani and Iranian companies for pricing of the construction cost of the pipeline.
**No CNG for Punjab, federal capital in Nov, Dec, Jan: minister - thenews.com.pk

Sher to haddi chornay ke bhe mood mein nahi hai

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Re: No CNG for Punjab, federal capital in Nov, Dec, Jan: minister

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Re: No CNG for Punjab, federal capital in Nov, Dec, Jan: minister

chalo jii, na rahegaa baaNs aur na bajegii baaNsurii!

jab CNG hii na hogii to bechaarii taa'ir-e-laaHootii Khud hii taa'ir-e-aahootii ban jaayegii! :(

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Re: No CNG for Punjab, federal capital in Nov, Dec, Jan: minister

I can understand the reason why there would be no CNG during these months. NS should explain this to his electorate though. :p

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Re: No CNG for Punjab, federal capital in Nov, Dec, Jan: minister

Ganjoo PaTel [N$] bechaare kii nakel chaaroN atraaf se Khoob kasii jaa rahii hai...dekheN bechaare kaa anjaam kia hotaa hai!

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Re: No CNG for Punjab, federal capital in Nov, Dec, Jan: minister

That idiotic regime of Mush shouldn't have given licenses to open a CNG station in every street corner to begin with.

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Re: No CNG for Punjab, federal capital in Nov, Dec, Jan: minister

The way he is going, no different to his predecessor.

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Re: No CNG for Punjab, federal capital in Nov, Dec, Jan: minister


true...the fact of the matter was and is that people are NOT realistic, i suppose. these problems will take a lonnnnggggg time to fix and he has been in the office for less than 4 months. even if he means well for the country and it's people, he seems to be helpless.

i can agree on one thing though that he must show his resolve and initiate meaningful changes at the top.

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Re: No CNG for Punjab, federal capital in Nov, Dec, Jan: minister

yeh tair e lahoti saudi tail pay chalta hai.... no parwaz maay kotani there.....
what good are those every day raids on cng thieves uncovering theft of millions of cubic-m ?

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Re: No CNG for Punjab, federal capital in Nov, Dec, Jan: minister

Mush Regime was better than Zardari and after probably be better than Ganjas regime too

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Re: No CNG for Punjab, federal capital in Nov, Dec, Jan: minister

Isn't CNG better for the environment when it comes to air pollution? Pakistan should have already used other avenues like wind and water dams to make electricity as there are other choices there.

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Re: No CNG for Punjab, federal capital in Nov, Dec, Jan: minister

The 'first-use' of natural gas would go to industries (specially the fertilizer and energy 'mafia'), households might get the remaining and CNG would be (and should be) the last recipient.

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Re: No CNG for Punjab, federal capital in Nov, Dec, Jan: minister

Bhai, Aap Ganjay kay yahan Raiwand jaa ker jhoot aur bakwas na suna karo, it is bad for mental health. :)

Anyhow, it seems Musharraf did not knew that Pakistani leaders of PPP and PMLN who would follow him in power, would be mentally inefficient, would take the country down the drain in every respect, but would be good in talking lies, creating propaganda and making fool of masses.

Just imagine, dishonesty (or mental beardedness) of politicians, their supporters, and TV anchors … who regularly on TV and other Media outlets, accuse Musharraf of making bad decision in popularising CNG for cars in Pakistan:

Fact is that, whatever fuel Pakistan uses for Cars, Pakistan has to import that fuel, crude Oil or Natural Gas.

So … One should not be concerned about usages but should concern about what price these energy commodities are in international market and what it would cost Pakistan to import.

Cheapest gas Pakistan can import is from Iran … so let see price Pakistan would pay for gas from Iran.

From what I know, in Feb 2007, Pakistan and India agreed to pay Iran US $4.93 per million BTU … (that comes to ~ $5.06 per MCF).

Crude Oil gives 5.6 MBTU per barrel. It means, if Pakistan imports Natural Gas at $4.93 per MBTU than it would be same as importing crude oil at $27.61 dollars per barrel (and that is the reason, CNG in Pakistan is cheap as it is extremely cheaper then petrol ... and also efficient thus gives more mileage in car then petrol).

At present crude oil price in world market is ~ $102 dollars a barrel.

Note: For use as fuel in vehicle, crude oil has to get refined in refinery … and gas has to get compressed (that I believe is done at CNG station).

Plus point is that … Gas is much cleaner fuel in car, as it producing less pollution (greenhouse gas) and that is the reason in many western countries, government subsidies cost of running cars that uses CNG.

Waisay … tell me, if Pakistan need to import fuel, be that petrol or gas, why you think Pakistan should use expensive fuel (Petrol) and not cheaper fuel (gas)? … Kuch samajh may baat aati hay … yea sirf yea baat samajh aati hay kay Musharraf ko gali dou chahay achcha kiya ho yea bura? :)

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Re: No CNG for Punjab, federal capital in Nov, Dec, Jan: minister

^ Nothing was done to actually 'import' gas during Mush time. It was predicted by economists that by 2020, Pakistan would be a huge graveyard of CNG kits and cylinders. That prediction is coming out to be true.

As a typical fauji, Mush had a short term vision. IF you have gas, you replace oil used in energy production plants with gas first, not fuel in cars. The first step for reducing costs and pollution from roads is to improve public transport, not promoting private car ownership.

The fact that we DO NOT have enough gas to run energy plants and industry, should tell you that we CANNOT import gas, cheaper or not. If we had substantial excess gas, I'd agree with you. If NS and Zardari are corrupt idiots, can I not criticize Mush?

And please keep your condescending remarks to yourself.

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Re: No CNG for Punjab, federal capital in Nov, Dec, Jan: minister

^^^ What do you mean and what you want to say? :)

1: Pakistan has plenty of Oil and would not need to import Oil ... but has no Gas and would need to Import Gas ... hence Cars should run on Oil.

2: Foreign exchange and money does not matter for Pakistan, Pakistan is rich, and that it is easy for Pakistan to import Oil but not Gas, so better to import Oil.

3: Even though Pakistan need to import Oil or Gas whatever Pakistan uses, preference should be for importing Oil, even though Oil is more expensive than Gas ... as it would be quicker for Pakistan to go bankrupt importing Oil ... and obviously bankrupt country is good country because bankrupt is nice word and Ishaq Dar is famous for it (Pakistan went bankrupt twice in PMLN 1997-1999 rule ... that was once at the end of 1998 and then again in beginning of 1999).

So ... what do you want to say ... please explain?

[Importing gas do not need future planning but need dollars ... and plenty of it ... so think about dollars ... hmmm dollars in Swiss bank accounts, dollars ... billion of dollars London flats and palaces, dollars that is moved from Pakistan to offshore bank accounts using offshore companies ... dollars that Pakistani corrupts are buying from open market and moving their looted money abroad causing increase in dollar value ... ... ... dollars ... dollars ... dollars ... no planning but dollars ]

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Re: No CNG for Punjab, federal capital in Nov, Dec, Jan: minister

^ I want to say that although natural gas is cheaper and cleaner fuel, we have LIMITED supply and the priority should have gone to electricity production and industry rather than private cars.

WE DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH gas to run everything. Priorities!!!! LOGISTICS of importing gas are DIFFERENT from logistics of importing oil. Right now, we CANNOT put gas in a ship and import it.

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Re: No CNG for Punjab, federal capital in Nov, Dec, Jan: minister

Brother … Gas can be imported on ship … Actually, from what I know, liquefied Natural gas (LNG) can get imported on ship. Once it reaches destined port, it is turned into natural gas and supplied to place of usage as natural gas (at CNG station, it can get turned into CNG for use as vehicle fuel).

Importing LNG is more expensive than importing gas but still it is cheaper than oil.

For instance … between 2007 and 2012, price of American LNG has varied between 10 to 15 dollars per MBTU … so even though it is more expensive than importing gas in gas form (Pakistan at moment can only import gas from Iran) but still it is cheaper than importing Oil.

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Re: No CNG for Punjab, federal capital in Nov, Dec, Jan: minister

^ Then it is better to use LNG cylinders and kits rather than CNG kits. We would have to import further plants to convert LPG into CNG. You also need heat source for conversion.... meaning more 'energy' demand. But then, it would defeat the whole purpose of gas being 'cheap' alternative. I don't think the street corner CNG stations can afford such plants anyways.

How many regasification plants do we have in Pakistan?

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Re: No CNG for Punjab, federal capital in Nov, Dec, Jan: minister

^^^ For gas to convert into liquid form (become LNG), it has to get cooled to ~160 degree centigrade and it has to be kept in special containers that are heavy and expensive, as containers have to keep the gas at that low temperature. What I know, purpose of liquefying Natural gas is mostly for storage and transportation. Liquefying process is very expensive and maintaining the temperature is also difficult as well as expensive.

Anyhow, what I know (though I am not sure) is that, once imported, LNG gets converted into Natural gas and fed into already existing piping to destinations where gas is required. Converting LNG into gas does not need heating plants, as I believe exposure to environment is enough. Actually, one would need special container that can keep LNG as LNG, else converting LNG to natural gas is no problem (well, minus 160 degree centigrade is very low temperature, so temperature higher than that could easily turn LNG into natural gas).

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Re: No CNG for Punjab, federal capital in Nov, Dec, Jan: minister

^ LNG would cost Pakistan 80% of cost of oil. Then regassification costs would bring it at parity with Oil anyways.

http://www.paklinks.com/gs/pakistan-affairs/431657-pakistan-tops-countries-running-cng-vehicles.html

My stance has not changed from 2010 :stuck_out_tongue: