Energy import bill will surge to $ 50B per annum, PEO
Ishfaq A Mughal): Currently, Pakistani nation is facing energy crises and due to this crises Pakistan’s economy and common man suffering very badly. The existing situation of power shortage will be worsening in upcoming summer season, when the demand would be increased and could be touched the level of 16 thousand megawatt while the production is still 13 thousands. To meet this gap, the government will increase power load-shedding.
The PIP released its report “PAKISTAN ENERGY OUTLOOK” on Tuesday on the occasion of Pakistan Energy Conference in Islamabad. The report portrayed a gloomy picture of Pakistan’s future in terms of energy shortage and its affordability for common man.
The report said that the consumption of indigenous natural gas has grown rapidly in all sectors of the Pakistan’s economy including residential, commercial, industrial, transport and power sectors over the past 15 years.
The report said that the Pakistan’s indigenous natural gas reserves are declining because new projects of explorations and productions are not initiating by government or private sectors. The report said that the low gas price in country has become a significant disincentive in attracting new gas supplies and for efficiency and conservation creating licensing and quota culture, either through increased domestic exploration activities or via imports of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) or regional gas pipeline imports.
The report indicated that the “if current policies persist, Pakistan’s natural gas supply is expected to decline from 4 Billion Cubic Feet per Day (BCFD) in current fiscal year to less than one BCFD by 2025-26. This will lead to a growing energy shortage reach 8 BCFD (over 50 million Total Oil Equivalents (TOEs) by 2025-26 in Pakistan and will depress Pakistan’s average GDP growth rate over the next fifteen years.”
It is also unlikely that Pakistan will be able to substantially develop its indigenous energy sources of hydel power and coal by 2025-26 under the current policies. On the other hand, the energy demand in the country is growing rapidly and policy makers of the country are trying to meet it with imported energy resources like LNG and oil which is very expensive. The report said that the requirement of the country may grow from the present 30 percent to 75 percent of the energy mix by 2025-26 costing over $50 billion per annum in foreign exchange. These figures are portraying a very alarming situation in near future because when Pakistan will import energy worth of $50 billion in year than where will be stand current account deficit of Pakistan and how nation will meet the gap of balance of payments.
The report further said that the power sector in Pakistan is facing growing problems due to high inefficiencies, low payment recovery and the inability of the government to manage its subsidies mechanism. This situation has led to a serious circular debt issue which is climbing at more than three hundred billion rupees due to thermal power generation. Pakistan did not made single dam in last 40 years, on the same period, other regional countries including India made dozens of dams and reserved water and generating hydel power from them.
The Pakistan Energy Outlook report suggested that “the pricing for new natural gas supplies, all thermal power generation based on oil, gas and coal to be privatized and their operate with no requirement of government support, both domestic and imports to be de-regulated, pricing slabs be abolished, with a single natural gas price for all volumes, natural gas theft be declared a “non-bail able offence” with a high penalty, a competitive gas market be created with de-regulated prices and open-access to the gas distribution grids for third-party gas suppliers”.
According to the Petroleum Institute of Pakistan (PIP), a gloomy situation is waiting to us in near future as the demand of energy is growing rapidly but the government is not sincere to deal it with permanent bases and trying to handle the situation on temporary bases. Due to this non-sincere and lake of pragmatic approach, the power shortage not only increasing but affordability issue is emerging for common man and industry.
No comments:
Post a Comment