Another harsh winter is waiting for Pakistan as the country is falling short to arrange gas to meet the domestic demand. The world is currently facing a global energy crisis, which began in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war. The factors that led to this include labour shortages, global disputes, a decrease in demand, and climate change.
Countries heavily dependent on fossil fuel as the primary source of energy haven’t responded well to this and efforts to curtail the crisis in their own backyards have largely been ineffectual.
The same has been the case with Pakistan. Ironically, gas shortages have been an annual phenomenon each winter as Pakistan’s natural gas fields have been witnessing a 9% depletion each year. Reliance on importing LNG has intensified as a result, and experts predict that import bill could surpass $30 billion by 2030. Moreover, securing gas from Qatar is now becoming cumbersome as confidence in payments has decreased and Russia’s pipeline burst has resulted in greater burden in the Middle East region.
Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Malik had earlier said the natural gas shortage would persist this winter like last year, pinning the blame on Imran Khan’s administration for failing to contract the cheapest available liquefied natural gas at the time and no improvement in domestic gas production.
He, however, had said that an effective gas load management was being finalised to ensure the supply of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders as an alternative fuel.
Thus, there will be no CNG in Punjab and K-P during the winter season. While the government’s decision of not to slash the supply of gas to the fertiliser and domestic sector is indeed welcome, other alternatives such as pursuing the Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline must be sought.
Energy shortages will hit the economy adversely by putting pressure on essential industries. Therefore, indigenous gas production must be ramped and alternative sources of energy included in the overall energy distribution mix to provide relief.
There are rumors that the ministry has devised the gas loadshedding plan in the winter and in this regard the final approval will be given by the prime minister. Only time will tell the severity of the gas crisis in Pakistan this winter, but one should be sure that the situation would be different as compared to last year.
