Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Amanullah Khan Jadoon said on Tuesday that all out efforts would be made to achieve the targets set by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz for further boosting oil and gas sector.
He made these remarks while presiding over a high level meeting held here to brief the minister about development activities and future projects of petroleum sector. Additional Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum, Iftikhar Ahmed briefed the minister.
The Minister was informed that as a result of continuation of policies and concrete steps taken by the government, a sizeable investment was attracted in the oil, gas and mineral sector during the last one and a half-year. That not only helped the government to repay the foreign debts but also put the country on the road to self-reliance, it added.
Maximum facilities and co-operation is being extended to the prospective investors in the oil and gas exploration activities in the offshore and onshore areas of the country.
The minister was also apprised that the country spends US dollars 3.5 billion on the import of petroleum products annually, adding the US dollars 800 million were saved last year by promotion of gas sector.
He was briefed about the exploitation of Thar coal deposits for electricity generation. He was also informed that there had been a speedy growth of the CNG industry in the country for the last couple of years, which attracted an unprecedented investment in the sector.
More than 600 CNG stations have been set up in the country and over 600,000 vehicles are running on the CNG fuel and this figure is likely to go double in next few years.