Gas loadshedding to continue despite cargo purchases: minister

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Energy Minister Muhammad Ali said Thursday that the gas loadshedding will continue in Pakistan as the new cargo purchases could not meet the demand, ARY News reported.

While talking to the ARY News programme ‘Khabar’, Caretaker Energy Minister Muhammad Ali said that gas loadshedding will continue in Pakistan despite cargo purchases.

“Consumers will get gas supply for eight hours in a day. We don’t have storage places for additional gas in the country.”

Ali said that Pakistan signed a two-year agreement with Russia in the energy sector. “An agreement was signed with Russia for the purchase of $60 a barrel oil. The government is working on the project as Aramco wants to establish a refinery in Pakistan.”

“The government is working on a new refinery that would decrease the dependency on the furnace oil. The circular debts of gas and electricity have stopped which would not be exceeded now.”

The minister claimed that the caretaker government did not hike the gas prices for the 60% of the nation. “The government has only hiked gas prices of the rich segment. Gas prices in Pakistan are not more than other countries and they are still very low in the entire region.”

However, he admitted that electricity prices are high in the country.

The minister said that it would take more time to resolve the gas and power-related issues. To a question, he replied that the caretaker government would soon resolve the matters related to the privatisation.

Muhammad Ali said that the ministry prepared a summary which would be presented before the federal cabinet in two weeks. “We have informed the World Bank that DISCOs would be given to the private sector.”

Regarding the International Monetary Fund, the energy minister claimed that Pakistan achieved all targets set by the IMF.