ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to restore daily gas supplies of eight hours a day to (CNG) outlets in Punjab and reduce gas loadshedding in Sindh from three to one day a week.

An agreement to this effect was reached on Friday between a government team headed by Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khagan Abbasi and a delegation of CNG operators on Friday.

The fresh arrangement will come into force by the end of next week.

`Principles of gas supply to CNG sector throughout the week have been finalised. The minister will make a formal announcement on Monday once CNG owners and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) management finalise a revised gas supply schedule,` Ghiyas Abdullah Paracha, the chairman of the Supreme Council of All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA), told Dawn.

Under the agreement, CNG stations in Punjab would get gas eight continuous hours for six days and 24 hours on Sundays, he said. This means gas supply for 72 hours a week which will solve to a great extent problems of consumers and CNG stations.

Both sides agreed that CNG stations would remain open between breakfast time and 4 or 5pm depending on the SNGPL`s line-pack. Thiswill mean that gas will be available for diversion to power sector to meet peak generation demand and the industry throughout the night.

He said that the overall quantity of gas for transport sector in Punjab would remain more or less at 93 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) which was currently being provided for three days a week. CNG stations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are sepa-rately getting 71 MMCFD of uninterrupted gas supply throughout the week because of court interventions.

Mr Paracha said that the meeting also attended by top officials of the Sui Southern Gas Company also decided to reduce gas loadshedding for CNG sector in Sindh from three days a week to one day because it would have an additional impact of just 11 MMCFD.