Gas Cut to Quetta and 6 Balochistan Towns After Pipeline Damage

Gas supply has been suspended to Quetta and six other areas of Balochistan after a pipeline was damaged in Bolan.

Sui Southern Gas Company has not given a restoration time. Repair teams are ready but are waiting for security clearance before going to the site.

Update, 18 August. Gas is back in parts of Quetta, but on a timetable rather than continuously. SSGC has issued a revised supply schedule while work continues:

• 6:30am to 8:30am
• 12:00pm to 3:00pm
• 6:30pm to 9:00pm

The company says the normal schedule returns once the situation improves. No date has been given for that, which is consistent with everything else in this outage.

If you are cooking on a schedule like that, the safety section below matters more rather than less. Rationed supply is exactly when people leave a burner turned on waiting for pressure to return, and that is the situation that fills a kitchen with gas when it does.

Earlier update, 16 August. Supply was still out entirely and repairs had not begun, with SSGC's teams on standby awaiting security clearance. No restoration time was announced at any point.

One detail to correct in our own copy. The location is in Kachhi district, which is the current name for the area long known as Bolan. Both names appear in reporting and refer to the same place.

If you are still without gas after three days, treat the safety section below as the important part of this page rather than the timeline. The risk in a long outage is not the absence of gas, it is what households switch to.

Where supply is affected

SSGC says supply is suspended to:

1. Kolpur
2. Mach
3. Mastung
4. Kalat
5. Pishin
6. Ziarat
7. Many parts of Quetta

The company has also warned that consumers may face reduced pressure rather than a complete cut. If your supply is weak rather than absent, that is consistent with what SSGC has described, and it does not mean a separate fault at your meter.

What SSGC has confirmed

An SSGC spokesperson said unknown people planted explosives under the pipeline in the riverbed and detonated them by remote control. We are reporting that as the company stated it.

Dawn reports this as the fourth major pipeline attack in Balochistan since March 2026. We are citing that figure as their reporting and drawing no conclusion from it.

The part that actually hurts people

Here is the thing nobody writes about an outage like this, and it matters more than the outage itself.

People are rarely harmed by the absence of gas. They are harmed by what they switch to. Cylinders connected with a worn hose, a generator brought inside because it is raining, a heater left burning in a closed room overnight. That is where the burns and the poisonings come from.

Never run a generator indoors, and that includes a closed veranda, a garage or a stairwell. Carbon monoxide has no smell and no taste, and people who are asleep do not wake up for it.

Check a cylinder before you use it. Look at the hose for cracks and the regulator for a proper seat. A cylinder that has been sitting unused for a year is the one that leaks.

Do not sleep with an unvented gas heater running. A room that feels stuffy is a room that is running out of air.

Turn your appliance taps off while supply is out. This one gets forgotten. If a burner is left open and supply returns during the night, gas fills the room with nobody awake to notice.

If you are moving to cylinders for the first time, our comparison of piped gas and LPG covers what changes, and current cylinder rates are in the LPG cylinder price guide.

What we do not know

We are being specific about the limits here, because an outage without an end date produces a lot of confident rumour.

There is no restoration time. SSGC has not given one, and we are not going to estimate on its behalf. Any figure circulating on WhatsApp did not come from the company.

We do not know how many consumers are affected. SSGC named the areas but not a number, and the towns listed vary greatly in size.

We are not publishing a helpline number for this. We did not read one at source on the day, and a wrong number during an outage wastes the time of somebody who needs help.

We are also not going further than SSGC on what happened or why the clearance is taking time. The company described the damage and said its teams are waiting. That is the record, and anything past it would be us guessing in public.

If you are in an affected area

Three practical things while this runs.

Keep some cooking capacity that does not depend on the mains. One working cylinder, checked, is enough. Two is hoarding while your neighbours have none.

Assume the return will be uneven. When a main line is restored, pressure comes back to some streets before others, and low pressure can look like no supply for a while longer.

Watch elderly relatives and small children in cold houses. Ziarat and Kalat get genuinely cold, and the temptation to improvise heating is strongest exactly where it is most dangerous.

For a service complaint once supply is back, the utility route is in our gas connection guide, and the ombudsman route for a utility that will not resolve something is in the Wafaqi Mohtasib guide.

Questions readers are asking

Which areas have lost gas supply?

SSGC lists Kolpur, Mach, Mastung, Kalat, Pishin, Ziarat and many parts of Quetta, with some nearby areas seeing reduced pressure.

When will gas be restored?

No time has been announced. Repair teams are on standby and SSGC says they are waiting for security clearance before going to the site.

What happened to the pipeline?

SSGC says an 18 inch pipeline was damaged at the KMP-246 valve assembly in the Bolan riverbed, and that explosives were planted under it and detonated remotely.

My gas is weak rather than off. Is that related?

Most likely yes. SSGC warned that consumers may face reduced pressure as well as full suspension.

Is it safe to use a cylinder instead?

Yes, if the hose and regulator are sound and it is used in a ventilated space. Check the fittings before connecting one that has been stored.

Can I run a generator indoors?

No. Never indoors, and not in a closed veranda or garage either. Carbon monoxide has no smell and is fatal to people who are asleep.

Should I leave my gas taps open so I know when it returns?

No. Close them. Supply returning to an open burner overnight is one of the most dangerous things that can happen after an outage.