PESHAWAR: Federal Minister for Energy Hamad Azhar said the government is working to ensure gas supply for breakfast, lunch and dinner times, this year.
Addressing on the floor of Senate, the minister rejected the news of gas supply three times a week and assured that the gas will be available three times a day. He claimed that the government has not increased gas price since 2019.
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Hamad Azhar said that 70% of gas is explored in the country – Sindh supplies 38% gas, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 12%, Punjab 8% and Balochistan supplies 40%. He informed that the 30% of gas is produced from LNG [Liquefied Natural Gas]. The energy minister said that Sindh consumes 80% of gas its produces while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa sends 30% of it gas production to other parts of the country.
The Minister of Energy claimed that the PTI government has signed the cheapest LNG in Pakistan’s history. The minister informed that international restrictions on Iran are the major hurdle in the gas pipeline as India is also cannot import more oil from the country.
He claimed that during the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government the LNG terminal was paid Rs40 million as daily rent. “The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government has secured 10 LNG cargoes for November. Two of the LNG cargo suppliers of PML-N era have gone bankrupted,” the minister said.
However, he said that Pakistan’s gas crisis is not related to LNG but our gas reserves are depleting fast. “Gas reserves are declining fast in Sindh province. Within the next two or three years, Sindh will have to purchase gas,” the minister warned. He expressed the hope that the government will be able to ensure gas supply to export industries. He said that the government is not going to shut down the fertilizer industry and would keep providing natural gas.
The opposition lawmakers strongly protested against price-hike during his speech due to which he left the senate house.