SSGC, MUET holds a vital seminar on gas line losses
SSGC, in collaboration with Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET), Jamshoro organized a seminar entitled ‘UFG – A Major Threat. The seminar, held on February 15, 2017, at MUET’s main auditorium, featured the University’s faculty and SSGC’s senior officials including Amin Rajput, Acting MD, Saeed Larik, ASGM (Distribution-South), Shahbaz Islam, AGM (CCD) and Madni Siddiqui, DGM (R&D).
The seminar is a part of the Corporate Communication Department’s drive towards educating the future generations about the menace of Unaccounted-for-Gas (UFG) and measures they can take in their own capacities to curb it.
In his keynote address, Amin Rajput, AMD said that UFG is a phenomenon that all the stakeholders including the general consumers of natural gas have to wage a decisive war against since it affects the Company’s bottom-line and ultimately its propensity to serve its customers better.
Defining UFG as the difference between total gas purchased and total gas sold to customers, Mr. Rajput stressed that this phenomenon is a major threat for the Company since it takes away a large chunk of profits away from the Company’s balance sheet. He said that one of the contributory factors for the rising tide of UFG are cases of gas theft in SSGC’s franchise areas of Sindh and Balochistan.
The Acting MD said that as a responsible citizen one must refrain from committing gas theft more so since it is now a serious crime by legislation. He said that to bring habitual gas theft offenders to book, an SSGC-backed dedicated Police Station has been created which is quite active in conducting raids with the Company’s Customer Relations Department (CRD) and Surveillance and Monitoring Department
(S&M) against gas theft miscreants. Mr. Rajput said that the university students and faculty members must pass on the message conveyed to them about the menace of UFG including gas theft to their colleagues, friends, family and neighborhood so that each stakeholder can play a constructive role in clamping down on UFG and discouraging gas theft as well as meter tampering.
Saeed Larik,Acting SGM (Distribution-South) dilated on some of the factors that contribute to UFG. He cited that while gas theft is a major factor, overhead and underground leakages, and measurement errors, also result in increasing volumes of UFG. He said that the Company is totally focused towards reducing UFG by taking steps such as rectifying underground and overhead line leakages, conducting gas theft raids, replacing defective meters and installing cyber locks at industrial premises.
Shahbaz Islam, Head of Corporate Communications earlier gave a very interesting presentation on Personal Branding and stressed that university students aiming to develop themselves career-wise and as well rounded individuals, need to stand out by applying this concept of self-packaging in their everyday lives.
Earlier, Professor M. A. Uqaili, Vice Chancellor, MUET and Dr. Farman Ali Shah, Chairman Chemical Engineering Department welcomed the guests and stressed on consistent collaboration with corporate sector organizations such as SSGC to facilitate them in achieving objectives with spillover benefits for the general public.
At the conclusion of the seminar, S. Imran Ahmed, Chief Manager, Corporate Communications took a pledge from all the students and faculty members about taking a collective stand against the menace of UFG.
SSGC holds and participates regularly in symposiums such as the one arranged at MUET that highlights on pressing issues such as the need to conserve natural gas and controlling UFG. The program concluded with a group picture constituting SSGC and MUET officials.
