Govt mulls building underground gas storages to meet demand

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) Nadeem Babar chaired on Monday a meeting of the Petroleum Division to discuss the building of infrastructure for underground gas reserves to meet impending energy crisis, ARY News reported.

The briefing deliberated over the proposal by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) which wants to aid Pakistan in laying out the project.

It also highlighted that European gas companies are also part of the infrastructure building project which is essential for Pakistan as the impending crisis looms over it in both residential and industrial sectors, in coming winters.

Keeping in view the urgency led by the rising demand and erratic supply of the natural gas, the division called for a moot for underground gas reserves, said SAPM Babar. He said that the uninterrupted and affordable supply of energy is the government’s policy.

The assessment report for the underground gas storage facility is agreed to be furnished by May next year. The report shall lay out a blueprint for the volume of the storage, modules and its security.

The briefing concluded that in the light of the said assessment report, the budget will be promptly allocated to the project to surmount the challenges.

Sindh may face over 400 mmcfd gas shortfall in winter: Nadeem Babar

Noting the gravity of the energy crisis, SAPM Babar said last week that Sindh may face a gas shortfall of over 400MMCFD during the upcoming winter season.

Addressing a press conference, he said that consumers are likely to face an acute shortage of gas during the winter as the Sui Southern Gas Company did not have enough gas reserves to meet the consumer demand.

He maintained that the gas crisis will further worsen in December and January in the province. The advisor said they could overcome the gas crisis if the Sindh government gives permission to lay a new pipeline in the province.