Pakistan is gas deficit country: Omar Ayub

January 24, 2020: Minister for Energy Omar Ayub Khan on Friday informed the Senate that Pakistan was a gas deficit country as the country's indigenous gas production stood at 3.5 billion cub feet (BCF) against 7.5 BCF demand.

Responding to various supplementary questions during the Question Hour, the minister said around 1.2 BCF Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) was being imported to bridge the gap between demand and supply.

The minister said at present gas was being allocated to SNGPL and SSGCL on the basis of its discovery in respective province. Further the companies have been directed to meet the requirement of domestic / commercial sectors.

The minister said the case for interpretation of the constitutional provision Article 158 was pending adjudication in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.  

To another question, Omar Ayub said the work on the Iran Pakistan Gas Pipeline Project was stalled due to international sanctions on Iran.

Pakistan had completed major project preparatory activities including bankable feasibility study, detailed route survey, Front End Engineering and Design, installation of concrete markers on the entire route, initiation of land acquisition process, and NOCs from environmental authorities of Balochistan and Sindh, he said.

He said recently, with the approval of the Federal Cabinet, Iran and Pakistan had signed an amended Agreement No. 3 to the IP GSPA giving both sides a further period of 5 years to complete the project.

However, he said, any further progress was linked with lifting of US sanctions.

APP