Fuel shortages following pipeline explosion

Hundreds of thousands of people in Pakistan will be without gas supplies following what appeared to be a rocket attack on one of the country's main gas supply lines. "This is a major calamity and we don't know exactly when supplies will resume," assistant engineer for Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), Mohammed Muzammil Awais, told IRIN in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad on Wednesday. Some 70 metres of the gas pipeline in Sui, in the southwestern Baluchistan province was blown up on Tuesday evening in an apparent sabotage, following a tribal dispute in the area. "Fires are still burning from the explosion," he added. The attack has been linked to local tribesmen unhapy at having their electricity supplies terminated. The pipe was affected 30 km down from the Sui gas fields in the central district of Dera Bugti, some 300 km northeast of the provincial capital, Quetta. The region produces 45 percent of the country's total gas supplies. Millions of cubic metres of gas are consumed from the fields by the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Punjab. But the explosion will mean that 60 percent of that amount will be off-line until the pipeline can be restored. There are two gas lines in Sui, a pipe supplying the NWFP and another for the Punjab. The line to NWFP was also affected by heat from the explosion. "Supplies to the NWFP have been stopped and to businesses in the Punjab," he explained, adding that supplies would also be stopped to houses, offices and factories in the Punjab, with Lahore being one of the first cities to be affected. Supplies to approximately 300 CNG (compressed natural gas) fuel stations were also blocked. Many vehicles in Pakistan run on CNG. Out on the streets of the Pakistani capital, queues of cars could be seen at CNG gas filling stations. "I earn a meager 200 rupees (US $4) per day through my taxi fares. If I can't get any gas I won't be able to feed my family tonight," taxi driver, Mohammed Khan told IRIN. "Islamabad is a bit better off because we can use gas from the local Potohar gas fields and from Chakwal, about 60 km from the capital," general manager SNGPL Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Mohammed Ismail Paracha, told IRIN. "But there will be a major crisis and we think it could take up to 40 hours to repair," he added. Some businesses in the capital have already been badly hit. "We can only offer a tenth of what is on the menu because we don't have enough gas to cook," manager of the Cinnamon restaurant in the upmarket Blue Area, Raja Zafar Jamil, told IRIN. Carrying out the repairs is a mammoth task as the pipelines are located in a very remote area, making it difficult to transport necessary equipment to the area for the emergency operation. "The track type wheels do not work well on that ground," he added. SNGPL has mobilised two camps at the site, each with some 300 people. "We are trying our best to restore the supply and have already delivered reinforcements. All we can do now is hope for the best," Awais said.