Sharjah's gas consumption up 30%

Sharjah's natural gas consumption increased by 30.8 per cent in 2009 as the emirate is undergoing tremendous socio-economic and industrial development.
Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (Sewa) has managed to make great strides in developing the sectors of electricity, water and natural gas to meet the growing demand for these services.
"Gas connection points saw a substantial increase to 156,859 in 2009 from 133,227 in 2008. Supply of natural gas pumped by gas stations to various Sharjah localities rose 32.3 million cubic metres by the end of 2009 from 26.7 million cubic metres," according to Tareq Demas, Director of Natural Gas, Sewa.
He said that consumers of natural gas increased spectacularly by 24,700 to 155,163 in 2009 from 130,433.
"Sewa's gas pumping stations have large reserve capacities to satisfy any expected demand for gas in the future," he added.
"The Sharjah Piped Natural Gas Project is on schedule and the network has reached the Emirates Industrial Area in Sajaa. The gas network in the Sharjah city has stretched 1,600km. Connections are being laid down for the newly developed residential, commercial and industrial areas," he added.
Sewa has introduced piped natural gas service for domestic, commercial and industrial uses in Sharjah City. In conjunction with this new service, Sewa also arranges conversion of cookers currently fired by PLG cylinders to natural gas system. Another project within the framework of Sewa policy is to exploit the feasibility of natural gas as an efficient fuel, that is the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) as fuel for vehicles instead of petrol is in progress.
He indicated that 14 contractors had been qualified to commission the gas connections for domestic consumers in Sharjah city. Sewa is supervising these projects to ensure efficiency and quality of connections.
Currently, gas supplies are piped to about 1,600 restaurants and cafeterias, he said.
"Sewa is exploring the possibility of using gas in other sectors such as air-conditioning," added Demas.