ISLAMABAD: On Thursday, the Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum emphasised the importance of establishing Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) air-mix facilities in distant locations, particularly where state-owned gas companies’ infrastructure is lacking.
Senator Abdul Qadir presided over the meeting, which received an update on gas supply programmes for various Balochistan areas and raised worry about the non-gasification of the province’s 16 districts.
The panel emphasised that all efforts should be made to provide gas to these areas, as well as the establishment of LPG facilities in all such places, and that a commercial model should be developed and submitted to it as soon as possible.
The committee was also briefed on gas supply issues in the Kohat district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and urged the concerned quarters to ensure that the commodity is delivered to people and other distant parts of the province in a timely manner.
Members of the panel claimed that it was exceedingly unjust that the local community of a region that supplied gas to the rest of Pakistan was still without it.
Officials from Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited promised the committee that they would make every attempt to provide gas to the locals. The body was informed that Rs441 million had been set aside to correct the gas pressure in this region.
The Gwadar Port Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal and LNG virtual pipeline were also assessed by the committee.
It was proposed that private firms involved in the LNG business be facilitated, and that “no-objection certifications” be granted to them as soon as possible once they completed the appropriate requirements, so that their business endeavours might continue unhindered. It was also suggested that a task force be formed for the purpose.
Senators Saadia Abbasi, Fida Muhammad, Prince Ahmed Omer Ahmedzai, Afnanullah Khan, Shamim Afridi, Bahramand Khan Tangi, Syed Muhammad Sabir Shah, Muhammad Qasim, and senior officers from the Petroleum Division, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, and other departments were among those who attended the meeting.
