Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Farrukh Qayyum on Monday said formal agreement on Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) is likely to be signed between Pakistan and Iran in next month and the gas supply will begin in September 2012.
The technical details are being worked out with Iranian officials, he briefed the Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources, which met at Parliament House this morning under the Chairmanship of Senator Syed Dilawar Abbas.
He said under this agreement, Iran would supply 2.10 billion cubic feet of natural gas to Pakistan on daily basis for a period of 25 years with delivery point pressure of 798 PSI.
The Senate body directed the Ministry to complete its homework and particularly to intensify efforts for land acquisition, which appears to be a contentious issue. It also directed that contours and alignments be marked to complete the gigantic project on time.
The Committee commended the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project and called upon the government to make sure that it must be implemented within the stipulated time-frame as the supply-demand situation would worsen further in the coming years.
The Senate body observed that the present growth momentum in the economy cannot be sustained without continuous and reliable supply of energy principally oil and gas, therefore, strenuous efforts be made to enhance and expand the scope of exploratory activities for ensuring energy security in the country.
Terming the energy as key to development, it strongly recommended that apart from stepping up the conventional exploratory activities, the country should diversify its sources and go aggressively after acquiring LNG to improve the present situation particularly be greater imports as is being done by some other countries of the world. In this connection, the committee lauded the Mashal LNG project being pursued by the government terming it as a useful one, which ought to be strengthened. The country witnessed unprecedented gas load shedding and management in winter this year not only for the industrial but also for domestic consumers.
The members of the committee said that better load management and more meticulous planning is needed to improve the supply situation during the winter season as the common perception being that poor people are made to bear the brunt of severe winter due to the inefficiency and lack of proper planning.
The committee also directed the SNGPL and SSGPL to cut their line losses and pilferage of gas, which presently stands at 3 percent. It observed that this ratio is high as compared to the international standards.