The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) is expected to give a go-ahead signal to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources to sign an enormous deal worth $16 billion with the Qatar government to import liquefied natural gas (LNG). The US energy giant ExxonMobil and French firm Total, which share parts of the Qatar Petroleum, are also willing to supply gas to Pakistan. It is good omen that the present government has started various ambitious plans to meet the energy needs of the country and the agreement with Qatar should be seen in this context. Another deal is in pipeline to import gas from Turkmenistan. The country has been facing energy crisis for the last many decades and it has hampered the industrial growth as well as the quality of life.
Earlier, the petroleum ministry had sought the ECC’s approval to pave the way for the state-owned Pakistan State Oil to execute the agreement with Qatargas in line with the government-to-government deal. According to newspaper reports, the ECC will again take up the issue in its next meeting and a summary has already been sent to the committee. The gas supply contract will be signed under specific formula keeping in view the existing price of Brent crude oil. The agreement will cover at least 15 years until 2030 and price mechanism will be revised after every 10 years with right to terminate the agreement from any side. At least 1.5 million tons of LNG will be imported in the first year while the volume of supply will be increased to three million tons from the second year. The imported gas will reach the consumers mainly through Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited and Sui Southern Gas Company.
According to news reports, the two gas supply companies are already facing huge deficits due to pilferage of gas in the industrial sector. Many industrial concerns are involved in the pilferage of gas, looting the national wealth from both hands. Many individuals are openly offering services to the industrialists to change the readings of the gas meters in connivance with the government officials. If this situation is allowed to continue, the end result of the government efforts will be an utter failure. The present government has enacted tough laws to fix the gas thieves, but every law in this country hits snags at the implementation stage. To stop the electricity and gas pilferage, the government should introduce card system – prepaid and post-paid. Enacting the laws without having honest implementation machinery is a futile exercise.