Minister for Petroleum Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Saturday ordered his ministry to quickly devise a viable plan to overcome the loss of 'unaccounted for gas'. He was addressing at the first briefing session arranged by the Petroleum Ministry about the working, organisation, availability of natural resources and their allocation to various sectors.
Stressing on the need for consistency of policy, Abbasi noted that frequent policy shifts harmed the interest of investors, adding that no enterprise could survive without investment. He claimed that people would now "feel a positive change" in terms of governance. The minister was briefed by Secretary Petroleum Abid Saeed. The minister said that people in general and his party's voters in particular had "a lot of expectations". "We will try our level best to come up to their expectations," he maintained. He said that natural resources would be allocated in an efficient manner to cope with the energy crisis. The Minister stated that after domestic and commercial users, the power sector was the top priority as far as gas supply was concerned.
"Power generation is the most efficient use of this scarce natural resource," the minister noted. He advised officers of the ministry to come up with well-thought-out plans so that they could be made the part of the policy-making process. Abbasi also said that his ministry would work in close co-ordination with the ministries of finance and water and power to resolve the energy crisis.