Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Thursday informed the National Assembly that annual gas pilferage of around Rs7 billion is made only in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Speaking during the Question Hour session, he also accused the KP government of not cooperating with the federal government and relevant institutions in stopping gas pilferage.
Ruling out any discrimination in the provision of gas to Sindh, he said that the province was getting more gas than it had been receiving during the PPP government.
He said that there is no gas load-shedding for domestic consumers in the country and if any specific area is facing low gas pressure or any problem, the concerned MNA should bring the issue into his notice for its solution.
The minister informed the house that the country's current consumption of petroleum products is around 24 million tons per annum (MTPA), while crude/condensate processing by oil refineries is around 3.6MTPA, which is just 15 per cent of the total country's requirements.
The remaining 85pc requirement is met through import of crude oil and petroleum products, he said, adding that self-sufficiency in oil may be achieved once the local crude/condensate production is corresponding to the country's consumption.
However, local crude production is expected to remain more or less at the current level, whereas the total consumption of petroleum products is projected to grow up to 25MTPA by financial year 2018-19. Therefore, self-sufficiency is not expected in near future, he informed the house.
Work on Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) has begun and it is likely to be completed by 2020, he said, adding that the project will support power generation capacity, which will help overcome the crippling power shortage crisis.
He said the construction of pipeline will also create job opportunities in the backward areas along its route. He said the project will help a great deal in meeting the energy requirements of the country. He said the project upon completion would help achieve high GDP growth in the country.
To a question, he said 3,220 gas meters have, so far, been installed in district Lower Dir. He said that all new gas connections are being provided strictly on turn basis through computer-generated lists.
Responding to a question, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab Ahmad told the house that no proposal is under consideration to keep the courts open round-the-clock.
However, a draft bill titled 'Evening Courts Bill, 2017' for the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) is under consideration to reduce the pending cases in the courts, he said, adding the proposed bill seeks to set up evening courts in the Islamabad Capital Territory for expeditious disposal of cases and clearance of backlog.
The minister further informed the house that at present 32,058 cases are pending in the Supreme Court, 214,000 in the Lahore High Court, 85,809 in Sindh High Court, about 31,000 in the Peshawar High Court, 6,270 in Balochistan High Court and 13,883 in Islamabad High Court.