ISLAMABAD: The meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Petroleum was held under the chairmanship of Chairman Mustafa Mahmood.
In the meeting, Federal Minister for Petroleum Ali Pervez Malik gave a detailed briefing on the gas sector. He said that at present the flow of gas circular debt is not increasing.
However, the total circular debt has reached about three thousand billion rupees, a large part of which consists of interest payments only.
The Petroleum Minister said that LNG prices in the global market reached $ 30 per unit at one point. Despite this, Qatar continued to supply LNG to Pakistan under the agreement. He said that Pakistan values Qatar’s cooperation.
He said that if the circular debt continued to increase, an increase in gas prices would have become inevitable, but in the current situation, gas prices will not be increased this year.
The meeting also discussed the gas demand of the power sector. The minister said that the demand for gas by power generating companies varies at different times of the day.
Demand is high in the morning and decreases in the afternoon. In January, the power sector demanded less gas, but now the demand is increasing again.
Sui Southern officials informed the committee that gas demand doubles during winters in Balochistan. Demand remains low in summer, but increases significantly in winter.
They said that the gas sector in the province is losing billions of rupees annually. Problems have also arisen due to reduced production from some wells and illegal compressors. However, gas losses have been significantly reduced and efforts are being made to improve further.
Talking to the media after the meeting, the Federal Minister for Petroleum clarified that on the instructions of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, there will be no increase in gas prices for the next six months.
He said that due to reforms, the increase in circular debt has stopped and no new debt is being created.
He said that the government is committed to providing maximum relief to the public during the winter season and that gas supply to domestic consumers is being improved.
