Domestic users should expect gas tariff hike

Interim energy minister says companies working on finding reserves left country

LAHORE:

Caretaker Federal Energy Minister Muhammad Ali on Thursday said domestic consumers should expect an increase in the price of gas as the country was suffering a loss of Rs1 billion each day in this sector.

While talking to the media in Lahore, Ali said the interim set-up had received an inherited difference in the gas tariff.

He added that the gas price difference in the country needed to be fixed, for which the calculations had been completed.

The federal caretaker minister said it was the first right to give gas to the province from which it originated.

He maintained that the country’s gas sector was running in losses of Rs1 billion daily and Rs30 billion on an annual basis.

Ali said the companies working on finding gas reserves had left Pakistan.

He continued that there was a shortage of gas in the entire country.

The caretaker federal minister said as the country had entered into an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), it could not reduce the gas prices but would increase the tariff instead as per the pact with the Washington-based lender.

He pledged that there would be no increase in the gas tariff for the low-income groups.

However, he pointed out that the rich in the cities also used cheap gas and this procedure was definitely unfair.

Read also: Govt plans special gas tariff for low-income group

Ali said that his ministry was trying to import more liquefied natural gas (LNG).

“We are trying to order more cargoes [of LNG],” he added.

The caretaker federal minister pointed out that the target to increase exports was set at $37 billion this year.

Pakistan’s oil and gas reserves have depleted by 17% and 6%, respectively, in the past one year till June 2023 as no major hydrocarbon discovery has been made since long.

It signals that leftover deposits will be fully consumed in the next 15 years, according to a research house that cited the data of the Pakistan Petroleum Information Services (PPIS).

Experts point out that Pakistan meets only 30% of its energy requirement through the local production of oil and gas while the remaining 70% needs are met through expensive imports. For this, the country has to arrange huge foreign exchange reserves.

The share of energy stands at around 25% (around $1 billion per month) in the country’s total import bill.

Industry players has been waiting for years for the announcement of a new oil and gas exploration policy, comprising incentives like an attractive increase in prices, to accelerate production activities in the country.

The previous policy was announced over a decade ago in 2012. Different governments initiated work from time to time on a new policy, but to no avail.