News
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Govt committed to Iran gas pipeline project, NA body told* Petroleum secretary says government will increase wellhead gas price to attract foreign investment
By Zeeshan Javaid
ISLAMABAD: Unfazed by the statements given by Washington to impose sanctions in respect of the million-dollar Pak-Iran gas pipeline project, the federal government is fully committed to continuing with the plan, and work on the project is underway.
This was stated by Petroleum Secretary Muhammad Ijaz Chaudhry on Tuesday while briefing the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources. The meeting was chaired by Sardar Talib Hussain Naqai, chairman standing committee.
He informed the meeting that gas price under the project would be $11 per million British thermal unit (MMBTU) and for Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India at $13 per MMBTU and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) at $17-18 per MMBTU.
He also informed the committee that to attract foreign as well as local investment in the oil and gas sector of the country, the government had approved increase of existing wellhead gas price from $4 per MMBTU to $6 per MMBTU.
Ijaz informed the committee that Pakistan was facing the worst ever gas crisis, which is a result of ever expanding network of the Sui-Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui-Southern Gas Company (SSGC) on the recommendation of the Prime Minister Secretariat to oblige the parliamentarians.
He said that share of gas in energy mix in Pakistan was the largest in the world as it was 51 percent of the total energy gas mix. He said that CNG fuel was introduced in the country in 1998 and had become a favorite for motorists by the end of 2005.
Keeping in view the limited gas reservoirs of the country, the ministry in 2005 proposed complete ban on the construction of new CNG stations, but the government did not take it seriously.
The secretary said that in implementing the gas load-management plan, no sector was co-operation with the ministry. CNG station owners in collaboration with transporters had created a pressure group.
The meeting was informed by Arif Hameed, the SNGPL managing director, that the company was laying 5,000 kilometre gas pipeline annually, providing new villages and towns with gas supply.
He said that providing new gas connections on the recommendations of Prime Minister’s Secretariat was making it difficult for the company to carry on its work on the ongoing schemes.
He added that the SNGPL had to lay some 18,000 km pipeline in the constituencies of parliamentarians. In the last two years, the SNGPL and SSGC spent over Rs 200 billion on laying new pipelines which forced the companies to request the government to increase consumers’ gas prices.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk