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  • Feb 23rd, 2017
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I congratulate the energy professionals of Pakistan for organising this insightful annual conference - The 9th Pakistan Energy Forum 2017, which is reflective of their valuable contribution towards fuelling the national economy. It highlights the commitment of the energy sector to adopt innovative ideas, make cohesive efforts, enhance performance, increase efficiencies, and maximise output to make Pakistan an energy-abundant nation.

Energy is the backbone of every economy, Pakistan faces serious challenges in ensuring consistent supply of energy resources to smoothly run the industrial, commercial and domestic sectors of its economy. The Government has initiated fundamental changes in the way we address our energy deficit, and these initiatives are already providing dividends to overcome the energy crisis in the country.

Natural Gas is 50 percent of Pakistan's primary energy; our energy crisis cannot be resolved without increasing the available gas supply. The country's natural gas production has remained stagnant at around 4,000 mmcfd for the past 10 years despite substantial number of new gas discoveries; the additional gas production has barely kept pace with the natural depletion of the existing gas fields. The constrained gas demand stands at 6,000 mmcfd today, while the unconstrained demand is over 8,000 mmcfd.

The government is pursuing a 3 pronged strategy to increase gas availability; enhanced domestic exploration efforts, transnational gas pipelines, and LNG imports.

Domestic E&P policies have been revised to provide additional incentives, and efforts are being made to exploit the immense shale potential in the country. Physical work has started on the TAPI Gas Pipeline to provide 1,325 mmcfd of gas from Turkmenistan within the next 4 years, and efforts are underway in the post-sanctions scenario to procure 750 mmcfd of gas under the Iran-Pakistan Pipeline contract.

LNG provides a cost-effective, high efficiency solution to add gas to Pakistan's gas system. The government has succeeded in providing the country with large volumes of RLNG in a compressed timeframe which has the promise to be a game-changer in Pakistan's energy equation. Currently 600 mmcfd of RLNG is being provided to consumers, and this volume will increase to 1,200 mmcfd in July 2017. This RLNG volume will increase Pakistan's primary energy supply by over 15 percent.

The LNG imports are already paying dividends and today every gas consumer including the power and industrial sectors is being provided gas on a 24/7/365 basis by the gas distribution companies. The fertilizer sector has gone from imports of 1 million tonnes to an export potential of 500,000 tonnes. For the first time in over a decade the high winter domestic demand was managed with minimum load management despite addition of over 2 million new domestic consumers in the last 4 years.

Power generation will start this year at three new RLNG driven1200 MW CCGT powerplants in the public sector which will be the most efficient in the world at over 62% efficiency at site.

Pakistan is targeting 20 mtpa of LNG imports by end 2019, making it one of the top 6 LNG importers in the world. The necessary regulatory framework and physical infrastructure has been put in place, and currently two major private sector initiatives are underway by leading industry players to provide over 1000 mmcfd of RLNG to consumers through third party access without any government guarantees. It is heartening to see that the stakeholders of Pakistan's energy sector have come together at this forum and I look forward to gaining from their wisdom to resolve our energy issues today and in the future.



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