It gives me great pleasure to know that the "Business Recorder" is bringing out a special report on Energy Resources and Power Generation.
It is matter of great satisfaction to see a major increase in the production of oil and gas as well as hydro-electricity during 2002-03.
This has resulted in reducing our oil dependence particularly imported furnace oil used in power generation, easing balance of payment and cleaning the environment.
We are heading in the right direction for delivering sustainable energy development.
The Government is committed to ensuring the continuity of its policies in all spheres of our economy including the energy sector.
The year 2002-03 saw a revival of the energy supplies increased by 4.4% during the 2002-03 as compared to 1.5% in the previous year and reached to 47.1 million tones of oil equivalent (MTOE).
Major increase of more than 1.4 million tons equivalent came from natural gas followed by hydro 0.8 MTOE and coal 0.3 (Mtoe).
In percent terms, the production of natural gas increased by 7.0% oil supplies dropped due to lessor import of furnace oil and High-Speed Diesel.
It is important to note the increasing input of coal for energy usage in the country.
The share of various primary energy sources in energy supply mix during 2002-03 was gas 43.8% oil 38.3% LPG 0.4% coal 5.4% hydro electricity 11.3% and nuclear electricity 0.9%.
During 2002-03 75.682 Gwh electricity was produced as compared to 72,405 Gwh in 2001-02 showing an increase of 4.0%.
This increase is attributed to hydel generation, which was up by 18% as compared to last year.
The generation included 68.2% Thermal 29.5% hydel and 2.3% nuclear. Electricity consumption also increased by 4.0% from 50,622 to 52,655 Gwh during 2002-03.
Major increase in consumption was in the commercial sector (9.1%) followed by agriculture sector (7.3%) industrial (6.9%) and domestic (1.8%).
As the environmental issues are giving more prominence in Pakistan we have added a special chapter on the status of renewable energy in the country.
It will be particularly helpful for those desirous of investing in the development of this wide-open field of the energy sector.
The Government is also encouraging gas and coal to replace the imported furnace oil in the power generation units. A number of power generation units have already been converted on the gas fuel.
This initiative would bring positive impact on our economy and the country would save US $600-700 million annually. A Chinese Shenhua Energy Croup is also setting up two coal fired power generation units of 300 megawatts each in Thar (Sindh).
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