PM seeks roadmap to steer country out of gas crisis

ISLAMABAD : Prime Minister Imran Khan has issued directives for preparing a roadmap to steer the country out of the gas crisis. Addressing a seminar on ‘Sustainability, Security and Affordability of Natural Gas Supply in Pakistan,’ organised by Petroleum Division here on Wednesday, the Prime Minister pointed out that the indigenous gas reserves are depleting and the country is now importing the gas. The Prime Minister, however, said there is a big difference in the price of domestic gas and the imported gas. This is resulting in the increase of circular debt in the gas sector. He pointed out that twenty seven percent of households have access to piped gas whilst the remaining rely on the LPG cylinders which is four times more expensive than the piped gas. He said the subsidy should be such that it facilitates the poor lot. “To date, we were relying on indigenous gas, the reserves of which are depleted now. We really need to think about it, especially when winter is around the corner and there is usually a shortage of gas supply,” he said. “First of all, we need to debate while keeping a hawk’s eye on the development of the country. It is also not possible that a province progresses and the country’s economy fails. We are assuming that there are gas reserves and we can extract gas but we are still not sure about it,” he said.”This debate is important for us because of the gas situation” in Pakistan since winters bring shortages every year, he explained, warning that the challenge would likely become a “bigger problem next winters”. With imported gas costing Rs17 a unit, selling it for Rs14 a unit creates a gap worth Rs3 a unit, which leads to the worsening situation Pakistan is in, he said. “We are hoping for a consensus,” he said. “Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has spoken of its interests but, eventually, the national interest needs to be promoted too,” he added. “We know that it’s quite an expensive process but I am expecting that we can build a national consensus while bringing all provinces on board.” Imran Khan regretted that no long-term planning was done in the past to cope with the energy crisis. He said no effort was also made to exploit the hydro potential of the country to produce cheap electricity.The Prime Minister said, “We are grateful to the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) for renegotiating the contracts with the government.” He further said, “We will apprise the nation next week of the savings to be accrued from these renewal of contracts that will help reduce burden on the people.” He said that Pakistan requires a national consensus on the ongoing natural gas situation, as well as the subsidies that are fuelling a circular debt crisis. He stressed on how if the country had debated on which fuel to use to produce electricity, “we would have not faced such crisis”