Not so justified opprobrium

The energy crisis, particularly the snow-balling shortage of natural gas, is not only affecting the lives of the common people but is also hitting the industrial sector in a big way, scuttling the chances of recovery of the economy which is already in a very febrile state.
As a consequence the government is facing a deluge of flak from the general public, stakeholders in the industrial sector and above all the opposition political parties for its alleged inability to stem the crisis. To overcome the gas shortfall, the government has launched LNG import policy that would bring in a total of 2000 MMCFD LNG by 2013, 750 MMCFD gas from Ira- Pakistan gas pipeline, 1300 MMCFD from TAPI. It is expected that 400 tons per day LPG production would he achieved by the end of 2013. LPG policy has also been prepared whereby the burden on existing natural gas would be reduced. As an upstream production enhancement measure the existing 2009 policy is being reviewed, and new policies for Low BTU, Tight gas and Shale Gas are in the offing. The government has also initiated a process of deregulating petroleum products except high speed diesel oil and kerosene oil to tackle issues like circular debt, low refining, storage capacity, poor product quality OMC, refineries and dealers margins which were acting as debilitating factors. All OMC are now under obligation to retain oil stocks to avert petrol shortage.
All the above measures need time to materialise and there is no quick-fix solution to resolve the crisis. The situation can be rectified through management of the demand in view of the existing supply position and timely completion of the above projects not only to bridge the present gap between demand and supply but also to meet the future needs. Management of gas requires prioritisation. The decision of the government to cut gas supply to the CNG stations and some industrial sectors and to give priority to the domestic consumers is a correct policy option. The masses must get top priority. The decision will adversely impact some industries, but in a crisis situation hard choices need to be made in the overall national interest.
Tapping new gas resources by ensuring fruition of the projects in the pipeline, and improving production from the existing wells needs huge investments. In an economy ravaged by floods, repercussions of the gloomy global economic perspective, the war on terror which has cost $68 billions to the national exchequer and not so encouraging prospects of foreign investment, the additional resources will have to be raised internally through increased tariffs. Enhancement of tariffs and taxes is invariably an unwelcome step as far as the people are concerned. It is a universal phenomenon but the truth is there is no escape from it. The governments do need resources to promote well being of the people and sometimes even to tide over the crisis situations. In this backdrop the decision by the government to enhance gas tariff from January, is a right step to generate resources for investment in the gas sector; a futuristic approach which may have some negative political fall-out in the short term but will benefit the country in the long run. The governments have to make a hard-hitting decision.