Pakistan to Face Energy Crisis without Iran’s Gas

Policymakers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government say the much awaited Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project would be pursued expeditiously in the context of regional cooperation in the energy sector.

Local Pakistani media like ExpressTribune and propakistani are reporting that the policymakers fear worst gas outages in the country in the coming years and anticipate that there will still be a gap of 3,263 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) in 2022-23 despite gas pipeline projects.

In order to bridge the gap, they recommend vibrant petroleum policies to accelerate exploration and production (E&P) activities, construction of more LNG terminals and expeditious implementation of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (Tapi) project with the capacity of 1,325 MMCFD which is already under implementation and is expected to be come online by December 2021.

They say the IP gas pipeline project with a capacity of 750 MMCFD – which is not progressing well – could be constructed on fast track basis with 24 months. It will further reduce the gap to 2,513 MMCFD.

The policy makers feel that phenomenal growth in demand for transport fuel and rising trend of the crude prices in the international market may pose a challenge to the PTI government.

“To supplement the indigenous gas supply in addition to the LNG imports, natural gas import projects like Tapi and the IP would be pursued expeditiously in the context of regional cooperation in the energy sector,” the PTI policymakers say in 12th Five Year Plan (2018-23) while discussing energy scenario of Pakistan in the next five years.

In a related front, earlier on December 01, Pakistani Petroleum Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan underlined that his country deems Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project as a very significant energy project, and said IP's completion would pave the way for putting an end to the energy crisis in Pakistan.

"We have now constituted a working group on the project; we will take decision keeping in view our interest," Sarwar Khan said.

The Pakistani petroleum minister underlined that Pakistan wants to implement the gas pipeline agreement between the two brotherly countries.

"That agreement was signed in 2009, but unfortunately could not be implemented," he said.

Sarwar Khan assured that he will try his best to start the IP project, and said, "We want completion of both IP and TAPI projects."

Iran has already built 900 kilometers of the pipeline on its own soil and is waiting for the 700-kilometer Pakistani side of the pipeline to be constructed.

The IP pipeline is designed to help Pakistan overcome its growing energy needs at a time when the country of over 180 million people is grappling with serious energy shortages.