Energy shortage: PM directs swift LNG imports to cover fuel deficit

ISLAMABAD:

With gas imports from Iran and Turkmenistan nowhere close to beginning, the prime minister has asked the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources to accelerate efforts for import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to meet a deficit of more than two billion cubic feet per day.

“It is absolutely important that immediate measures are taken to mitigate the sufferings of households and industries through the import of LNG from various sources,” Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said while chairing a meeting at the Prime Minister’s House on Thursday.

Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Petroleum Minister Dr Asim Hussain, Water and Power Minister Naveed Qamar, secretaries and senior officials of the ministries concerned attended the meeting which discussed early import of LNG as the quickest way to overcome gas shortage in the country.

Petroleum secretary said the ministry had been working on a two-pronged strategy for swift import of LNG. One is import of gas by the government and another through private sector for which Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has already short-listed potential developers.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2012.