Pakistan needs to develop and harness its own energy resources in view of the rising demand. This was stated by Senator Syed Dilawar Abbas, Chairman, Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources at a press conference after a presentation held at Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) head office on 'Pakistan Mashal LNG Project' (PMLP) here on Tuesday.
Committee members Mir Mohammad Naseer Mengal, Rukhsana Zuberi, Haroon Khan, Muhammad Talha Mahmood Aryan, Dr Muhammad Ismail Buledi, Mir Mohabat Khan Marri and Shahid Hassan Bugti accompanied Senator Dilawar Abbas. Saeedullah Shah, DG (Gas) also attended the briefing on the LNG Project, of which SSGC is the facilitator.
Syed Dilawar Abbas emphasised on the government to immediately develop thermal power generation through coal, as it is the cheapest way to generate power through country's own resources. He pointed out that Pakistan could generate more energy through its coal reserves than the total reserves of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Senator Mengal said that the committee has advised SSGC to provide LPG Air-Mix in the far-flung areas of Balochistan including Nushki, Turbat and Khuzdar, which the Company had introduced successfully in Gwadar in 2006. In reply to a question, Azim Iqbal Siddiqui, DMD said that although in winter seasons, 750 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) shortfall is seen, through a gas management program SSGC was able to maintain sanity in supply and demand and is thus able to cater for demand during peak winter seasons.
Senator Abbas said that the recommendations of the committee are given due consideration on national level and one of the recent meetings of the committee on energy crisis was chaired by Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani which points out the gravity of the situation. He said that the company needs total support from the Government of Pakistan and Sindh also in the implementation of successive LNG projects.
Earlier, Azim Iqbal Siddiqui, DMD, SSGC led his team during the presentation while Naim Sharafat, Senior Project Manager, LNG comprehensively briefed the senators on the Project.
While explaining the immediate need for the LNG Project, Sharafat told the senators that Pakistan's total demand projections for gas in the 25-year Energy Plan indicate more than a three-fold increase. In this scenario, indigenous gas supply is not expected to meet rising demand, and in fact is poised to decline, particularly after 2010. On this premise alone, the plan to launch more than one LNG project had become indispensable, Sharafat explained. In this regard, the designed capacity of PMLP is 3.5 million tons per annum (mtpa) while LNG-II will bring in another 3.5 mtpa in 2012-13 to the system, he apprised.
The Senators were provided with the major milestones regarding the project achieved to date and apprised on key issues and bottlenecks that affected the selection of the project developer. To date, two developers have been short-listed namely 4Gas Consortium and Shell Gas & Power, the senators were told. Currently Qatar was the only long-term supply source for PMLP in 2010/11.