ISLAMABAD: Shehryar Omar, Chief Executive Officer of Petroleum Institute of Pakistan (PIP) has said PIP is working to promote the development of the oil and gas sector in Pakistan through advocacy, capacity building, research, publications, conferences, seminars and international engagement.

Omar stated this at an exclusive Leadership Roundtable session themed, “Global Policy: How Governments Are Shaping the Future of Gas and LNG” here at the four-day Gastech 2023, recently concluded in Singapore.

Gastech is an annual event and is the largest global exhibition and conference for natural gas, LNG, hydrogen, climate technologies, and low-carbon solutions.

In his speech, Omar said, “That global leaders need to develop policy and funding frameworks that allow developing countries to transition towards cleaner energy usage as different countries are at different starting points in this transition process and the same rules and policies cannot be applied to every country. Developing countries in particular face huge challenges in providing affordable and reliable energy to their citizens, and they need a great deal of help in ensuring energy reliability while transitioning to a net-zero destination.”

While acknowledging the efforts of the host, Omar said that the PIP, as a representative body of the entire oil and gas industry in Pakistan was proud to have been a part of Gastech 2023, and the opportunity to talk about Pakistan’s challenges and more importantly, opportunities for investment.

On the sidelines of the Gastech 2023, CEO PIP met some of Singapore’s top institutions including the Nanyang Technological Institute (NTU) and Energy Studies Institute at the National University of Singapore.

During these meetings, the entities agreed to move ahead for extended research collaborations and knowledge exchange. The institutes identified common research areas and ways to facilitate academic exchange and organise joint workshops and seminars, and also discussed sharing of best practices related to carbon emissions reduction strategies.

PIP was also offered a membership of NTU for access to their workshops, webinars, and research. While the ESI offered to assist PIP in the finalisation and formulation of Pakistan’s Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) policy which is a PIP initiative as part of the continuing thought leadership efforts by PIP to help and support the Ministry of Energy.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023