ISLAMABAD: Six out of 14 compressors being imported by Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) to save the Qadirpur Gas Field from declining gas pressures have arrived at the Karachi Port and are expected to reach the site by end of this month, OGDC spokesman told Dawn on Saturday.

‘OGDCL will install 14 compressors as interim relief to maintain the declining pressures from the field,’ said Basharat A. Mirza, adding that the remaining compressors are expected to arrive early February next year.

He said that the project would cost around $38 million $20 million on the purchase of 14 compressors from Houston-based Company M/s Valerus and their installation at Qadirpur field would cost $18 million.

In the recent board meeting, the OGDCL management informed that the installation of compressors would be completed by June 2010.

The meeting was informed that the gas flow from Qadirpur field was on the decline and if the compression systems were not installed the gas in pipelines would start flowing back due to low pressure in the wells.

The meeting was informed that these compressors were being installed for a period of around 2-3 years and after that large compressors from another OGDCL field Pirkoh would be installed at Qadirpur field.

It was informed that the project had been delayed due to litigation with a Pakistani firm Petrosin after the Chinese company M/S China Petroleum won the tenders in 2006.

However, sources in the petroleum ministry said that Managing Director SNGPL Rashid Lone had doubted that the project would be completed in next six months.

‘Only procurement of installation material would take between six to eight months as they are not readily available in the country,’ sources quoted Mr Rashid to have said.

Mr Lone also told the ministry that the delay in installation of compressors may put the financial burden of Rs340 million on Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited.

‘The SNGPL would have to install its own compressors at Bhong field to inject gas in the system and avoid backflow,’ he had told the ministry officials.

The OGDCL spokesman said that some specific equipment also needed to be installed along with these compressors. ‘We will borrow the equipment from other exploration companies like Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) and it is a common practice in the up-stream sector,’ he added.LINK