March 02, 2016
President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), President AKIA, First Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Wednesday said that arrival of first LNG vessel followed by landmark Qatar deal is beginning of regular supplies which will reduce gap between supply and demand of the gas.
This is a great step by the government which will transform national energy landscape by starting to balance energy mix which is very heavily tilted towards oil, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that industry is pinning high hopes as regasification of 150000 cubic meters of super chilled fuel has been initiated which will revive power sector and industry which salvaging dying CNG industry in Punjab in which people have invested around Rs 350 billion.
He said that the development is the most important step by the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to tame energy crisis to trigger growth.
The veteran business leader said that initially power and fertilizer sector will benefit from imported gas demanding steps to provide gas to textile and other industries.
He said that government should also explore construction of pipelines in the private sector, expedite work on south-north pipeline, and establish new terminals as existing terminal can only handle three million cubic meters of chilled gas per annum.
Mian Zahid said that summer will hit LNG prices which are already down due to oil prices and oversupply therefore a transparent mechanism should be put in place for spot purchases from Qatar and Australia.
He said that oversupply has improved the bargaining position of buyers in the LNG market while sellers are on the weaker side which should be used in the national interests.
Energy crisis continue to hit GDP by two percent per annum and Pakistan would have not lost twenty percent of the GDP growth rate if LNG deal was signed a decade back.
