SSGC gas supply has fallen 13% in a year to 605 mmcfd. Homes now take half of what Karachi’s gas utility can find.

SSGC gas supply has dropped to around 605 million cubic feet a day (mmcfd), from 695 mmcfd a year ago, the managing director of Sui Southern Gas Company told Dawn on Saturday. He also said Pakistan’s gas production has fallen by about half over the last decade. For businesses in Sindh and Balochistan, that means winter will again be a fight over a shrinking pool of gas, with imported LNG still hard to come by.

The short version

• SSGC’s gas availability is about 605 mmcfd, down from 695 mmcfd last year, a fall of about 13% (Knock-On calculation).
• Around 300 mmcfd, roughly half, goes to domestic consumers. Industry, power and fertiliser share the rest.
• SSGC chief Muhammad Amin Rajput says national gas production has fallen about 50% in ten years, and imported LNG has been scarce since April because of the Iran war.
• Homes get gas mainly in breakfast, lunch and dinner windows, leaving little room for industrial users this winter.

What happened

In an interview with Dawn published on 15 November, Muhammad Amin Rajput, managing director of SSGC, said the company’s gas supply now stands at around 605 mmcfd “due to depletion in gas fields”, compared with 695 mmcfd last year. Of that, around 300 mmcfd is given to domestic consumers. The remainder is supplied to the industry, power and fertiliser sectors.

Rajput said imported LNG has been hard to come by since April because of the Iran war, and that RLNG availability from Qatar is substantially reduced. The Petroleum Division has secured limited gas supplies for critical power and fertiliser needs, he said, without giving volumes. Knock-On reported this week that Pakistan’s December LNG cargo bids came in at $27.30 per MMBtu, which shows how expensive any replacement gas has become.

SSGC has 90 mmcfd less gas than a year ago, and homes take half of it

SSGC gas availability and allocation, million cubic feet per day (mmcfd), November 2026

Availability last year

695

Availability now

605

Of which: domestic consumers (approx.)

300

Of which: industry, power and fertiliser (approx.)

305

Why it matters

SSGC serves 3.2 million customers across Sindh and Balochistan, two million of them in Karachi, through roughly 50,000 kilometres of pipelines. Karachi is Pakistan’s main industrial and port city, so a 90 mmcfd cut in SSGC gas supply is not just a kitchen problem. When domestic users are protected first, as they are in winter, the squeeze falls on factories, captive power plants and CNG stations. The same Gulf disruption behind the Hormuz tanker attacks is now limiting the LNG that once filled the gap.

The knock-on effects

First order: less SSGC gas supply for industry

With about half of supply reserved for homes, Karachi’s industrial users face tighter and less predictable gas. Firms that rely on gas for process heat or captive power will need back-up fuel or grid electricity.

Second order: higher energy costs

Switching to grid power, furnace oil, LPG or spot LNG costs more than local gas. Those costs can feed into the prices of textiles, food processing and building materials, and into household fuel bills where families turn to LPG cylinders.

Third order: pressure on gas pricing and investment

A falling base of cheap local gas and a rising share of expensive imports make the system harder to finance. That raises questions about gas pricing, exploration incentives and how long the current allocation, which favours homes, can last. These are open questions, not forecasts.

Who could benefit

• LPG and alternative fuel suppliers, as households and small businesses look for back-up energy.
• Solar and storage installers, as firms try to reduce reliance on gas-fired captive power.
• Exploration companies, if the depletion figures push the government towards stronger incentives for new local gas.

Who may face pressure

• Karachi manufacturers and exporters that use gas for heat or captive power.
• CNG stations and transport operators in Sindh.
• Households at tail-end locations, where low pressure is most common. Rajput blamed illegal gas compressors and suction pumps for part of the problem.

What to watch

• Any SSGC schedule for industrial, captive power and CNG gas cuts as temperatures fall in December.
• Whether the government secures more LNG cargoes for December and January, and at what price.
• OGRA and government decisions on gas prices, and IMF talks on energy subsidies (see the IMF’s fuel subsidy message).

Sources

• Dawn, Gas output halves in 10 years, says SSGC chief, 15 November 2026

This is analysis, not investment advice. Figures are as of 15 November 2026.