KARACHI: Chairman of National Business Group and Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF) president Mian Zahid Hussain said construction of new gas terminals and expansion in the existing terminals should be made conditional to the gas storage facility.

Mian Zahid said the private sector should be allowed to import gas and state-run gas companies should be required to set up gas storage facilities across the country in order to avoid a crisis in case of shortage of gas or interruption in supply. He said the demand for gas in the country has been steadily increasing while the local gas supply has been declining at an annual rate of 9 percent which is affecting domestic, commercial and industrial consumers.

The demand for gas decreases in summer while its price in the world market also decreases which can be imported and stored so that it can be used during the winter, he said.

He said gas is also stored along with oil in many countries; Pakistan has the capacity to store oil for 20 days but there is no capacity to store even one hour of gas which affects energy security.

The United States has enough gas reserves for ten years, in Europe, Germany and Italy have the largest gas reserves while Japan, China and India are also showing good activity in this regard, he informed.

Mian Zahid Hussain said in the past, suggestions regarding gas storage have never been taken seriously which is a reason behind energy uncertainty. He further said that at present the demand for gas in the country is 6 billion cubic feet per day while production is 3.8 billion cubic feet per day and 11 billion cubic feet per day LNG is being imported which can be imported cheaply in summer.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022