Sindh will not have surplus gas from 2021 onwards: Pak Energy Minister
Aug 12, 2020
Islamabad [Pakistan], Aug 12 : Pakistan Minister for Energy Omar Ayub Khan acceptance that Sindh will not have surplus gas from 2021 onwards and the province will not be able to meet its own demand from its production has revealed the crisis that awaits in the future.
Dawn quoted Khan as saying that the country is currently facing a gas shortage of about 3.5 billion cubic feet per day.
He was testifying before a panel of the parliament's upper house.
Khan further said that the gas load shedding would continue during the upcoming winter as the production of indigenous gas was decreasing while the demand was on the rise, reported Dawn.
This revelation comes after Prime Minister Imran Khan had commented that the country has reached a "tipping point" after which it will see only success has fallen flat.
He was speaking at the inauguration ceremony of Ravi Riverfront Urban Development Project.
The Energy Minister's statement has come amid Saudi Arabia's strong stance against Pakistan.
The decade-long friendship between both countries took a sharp turn when Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi issued a blunt warning to Saudi Arabia after the latter refused to act against India over Kashmir issue.
As a retaliation, Saudi Arabia issued a statement that loans or oil supply will no longer be given to Pakistan.
Islamabad was also made to pay back USD 1 billion to Riyadh, which was part of a USD 6.2 billion package announced by Saudi in November 2018, which included a total of USD 3 billion in loans and an oil credit facility amounting to USD 3.2 billion.
The deals were then signed when Crown Prince Muhammed Bin Salman made a visit to Pakistan in February last year, the Middle East Monitor reported.
Islamabad has been pushing for the foreign ministers' meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) since India abrogated Article 370, which gave special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
After Pakistan failed to gather support from the OIC members on Kashmir on May 22, Prime Minister Imran Khan said, "The reason is that we have no voice and there is a total division amongst (us). We cannot even come together as a whole on the OIC meeting on Kashmir."
