Shortage of gas

Every season has an accompanying shortage. The worst of the summer heat has passed and the pressure has come off the electricity supplies. Air-conditioners and fans are being mothballed for the cool months, and the next problem is knocking at the door as it does every year — a shortage of gas. The shortage this year is predicted to be greater than the one that was faced last year and difficult times are ahead for the domestic consumer and industry. The Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, said the other day that there was a proposal on the table for the provision of gas to domestic consumers only for cooking; but he admitted that it was going to be difficult to meet the demand of ordinary households during the coming months. He blamed, of course, the previous government for creating the scarcity, and to be scrupulously fair, the current government has not been in power long enough to do too much damage to anything.

The government is committed to providing ‘partial gas’ to all sectors. What this means in practice is that the domestic consumer — the vote bank — will in all likelihood be prioritised over industry, with an inevitable dent being made in productivity. The centre does not have any spare funding for provincial gas schemes and the minister was critical of a previous policy of gasification in the villages. The Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project remains ‘under discussion’ and a meeting is to be had with the Iranian energy minister — but even if the project is completed with all speed, it will be December 2014 before any gas flows. There is heavy diplomatic pressure from the Americans not to go ahead with the IP project and Pakistan could be the subject of sanctions if it does eventually go ahead, a move that will do nothing to improve Pakistan-US relations. Imported LNG will be here in time for next winter, but the short-term outlook is exceedingly bleak. The crises in the energy sector are all interconnected and there is no ‘single button’ solution. There are chilly times ahead for all.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 27^th, 2013.

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