All avenues to be explored to overcome gas shortage: PM Sharif

ISLAMABAD: As the gas crisis continues to cripple parts of the country, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has directed to explore all available resources and avenues to overcome the crisis.

Prime Minister Sharif on Thursday chaired a high-level meeting to overcome the energy crisis in which options to import gas from neighbouring countries were discussed. The Prime Minister was briefed on work being done on Iran-Pak Gas Pipeline Project and Tajikstan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Gas Pipeline Project. The premier was also apprised about India’s interest to export LNG to Pakistan.

The meeting was informed that domestic consumption of gas constitutes 28% of the total pool of the natural resource.

The meeting was further informed that in order to bridge the gap between demand and supply of gas in the country, load management of gas was undertaken and this was particularly so during the winter season when the demand for gas increased exponentially.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Minister for Petroleum Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, Minister of State for Petroleum Jam Kamal Khan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minster Dr. Musadiq Malik, senior officials of the Prime Minister’s Office and Ministry of Petroleum.