ACCORDING to Government’s own warning, the country is set to witness a crippling shortage of gas in the winter of 2021-22 because of dwindling reserves. In a briefing to the Council of Common Interest (CCI), which met in Islamabad on Thursday, Special Assistant to the PM on Petroleum Division Nadeem Babar apprised the participants of the meeting about the annual demand and supply situation of gas, particularly about future requirements and depleting local reserves.The shortage of gas is not a new phenomenon to the country as it faced extreme shortages in the past as well but the then authorities moved quickly to overcome gap between supply and demand. The speed at which Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, in his capacity as Minister for Petroleum and then Prime Minister of Pakistan, addressed the problem encouraged him to announce repeatedly that any segment of the consumers can lift as much gas as required by it. His decision to import LNG and establish its terminals on war footings reflected fuller understanding of the issues involved and implementation of the plan to mitigate woes of the people. However, in a highly jaundiced political environment, the sagacious move of entering into a long-term government-to-government accord with Qatar for import of LNG on most competitive prices is being used as a stick to beat the opposition. Therefore, instead of moving forward on the most viable option of streamlining import of LNG to offset domestic shortage, the Special Assistant is proposing solution that could take not just years but decades to produce the desired results. His proposition to build a national consensus on a major push for new exploration and production ventures, conservation of domestic gas and rationalization of price mechanism to avert the approaching crisis is unlikely to prove as a panacea to the emerging situation. This is because a major push for new exploration and production is contingent upon presence of exploitable reserves and resolution of ticklish political issues besides improvement in overall security environment and whether or not we are able to attract prospective investors to undertake ventures. There is also nothing wrong with prices, which are already highest, and in fact these can be revised downward provided gas companies eliminate gas theft and corruption and reduce line losses through system improvement. As for conservation of domestic gas, the objective cannot be achieved without harming interests of domestic consumers, which would not be a viable option for a political party in power. The country has suffered hugely due to electricity and gas crises and cannot afford a journey back into the history. Therefore, instead of beating about the bush and issuing warnings, the known solutions should be strengthened to avert the crisis as sufficient time is available to the Government if it decides to do so.
