NA body recommends use of nuclear energy, coal

Consumption of gas for industrial purposes has disturbed balance between demand and supply.

ISLAMABAD:

The National Assembly standing committee on petroleum has recommended the use of nuclear energy and coal as alternative energy sources.

A meeting of the committee was held at the Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) headquarters here on Monday, presided over by its Chairman Sardar Talib Hussain Nakai. Petroleum Secretary Ijaz Chaudhry was also present in the meeting.

The petroleum secretary said that 70 per cent of natural gas was produced in Sindh, 10 per cent in Balochistan and eight per cent in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The production of gas is sufficient for the needs of the country, however, it has to depend more on imports to meet its oil needs.

He said that prices of gas are much lower than those of oil, encouraging more usage of compressed natural gas in vehicles and gas in production of electricity and fertilisers.

He said that the use of gas for industrial purposes has disturbed the balance between demand and supply, adding there has also not been satisfactory work on exploration of new reserves of gas in Balochistan over the last 25 years.

The committee was informed that natural resources have become a provincial subject after the 18th Constitutional Amendment and similarly Thar coal reserves have become a provincial matter.

In the backdrop of the present situation of power supply, the committee advised the government to use all possible resources and take practical and immediate steps to overcome the crisis. It suggested that energy production be increased by paying attention to alternative sources of energy and by ensuring hydro and nuclear power generation.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2011.