Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif on Thursday directed the Ministry of Petroleum to rationalise gas tariffs to safeguard the common man’s interest and give domestic consumers precedence in gas distribution formula other sectors. Chairing a high-level meeting convened to discuss gas shortfall at the PM Secretariat, Sharif said all resources be exploited and all avenues explored to overcome gas shortfall in the country. He said different options to import gas from neighbouring countries should also be examined. The PM was told that work on Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project and Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project is in progress and that India was also interested in exporting LNG to Pakistan.
The meeting was informed that domestic consumption of gas constituted 28% of total national use of the natural resource. The meeting was further informed that in order to bridge the gap between demand and supply, load management of gas was done, particularly so during the winter season when demand increased exponentially. The meeting was attended by Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif, Minister for Petroleum Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Minister of State for Petroleum Jam Kamal Khan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minster Dr Musadiq Malik, senior officials from the PM’s office and the petroleum ministry.
