The House was informed that the PSO has made agreements with Qatargas (government-to-government basis), which is supplying 3.75 MTPA LNG at a price of 13.37 per cent of Brent and with M/s Gunvor (through competitive bidding) at a price of 13.37 per cent of Brent for supply of 0.75 MTPA LNG. Moreover, Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL) has made agreement with M/s Gunvor (through competitive bidding) for supply of 0.75 MTPA LNG at price of 11.6247 per cent of Brent.
The National Assembly was informed that the PSO made the agreement with Qatargas for 15 years and with M/s Gunvor for 5 years, while the PLL made the agreement with the Gunvor for 5 years too. To another question, the House was informed that Punjab produced 137 MMCFD (3.4 per cent of the total share), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 377 MMCFD (9.3 per cent of the total share), Sindh 2630 MMCFD (65.2 per cent share) and Balochistan 889 MMCFD (22.1 per cent share) from July 2016 to December 2016. In the same period, Punjab consumed 1,069 MMCFD, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 267 MMCFD, Sindh 1,758 MMCFD and Balochistan 424 MMCFD.
PPPP MNA Shazia Marri said the federal government is not giving fair share of natural gas to consumers in Sindh rather the major share of the gas connections are being given in Punjab province. Speaking on the issue, Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah accused the government of weakening the Federation by discriminating against the smaller provinces including Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He said the discrimination in the gas connections and supply of the natural gas to smaller provinces is increasing their sense of deprivation and the government should address it at the earliest. Shah said that his party has been doing politics on the basis of equal rights for all the people across the country and working to strengthen the Federation by granting due rights to the people of smaller provinces.
He also asked the government what it would do if the people of Sindh stand against it like the people of East Pakistan stood for their rights. He urged the government to look into the problems being faced by the people of smaller provinces at the earliest to strengthen the Federation. Responding to it, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Resources Jam Kamal Khan said the government has been struggling to address issues of the people across the country without any discrimination.
He also dispelled the impression that the federal government is discriminating against the smaller provinces in provision of new gas connections, saying the federal government is executing all the schemes with help of the provincial governments. The House was also informed that Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Pipeline Company Limited - the TAPI Project Company - has been jointly formed by the four TAPI parties (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India).
The TPCL has initiated the Pre-FID activities which include detailed route survey of the entire route, environment impact assessment studies and etc. The Turkmenistan has started the development of gas field. The House was informed that the actual construction work would start after the completion of technical studies and achieving the financial close by the end of this year as the project is scheduled to be completed by December 2020.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017