Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance Shaukat Tarin admitted to the present gas crisis in the country.
While speaking on Samaa News’ programme, ‘Nadeem Malik Live’, Shaukat Tarin said, “We [government] should have bought the gas cargoes on time as the purchasing time for it was over.”
Tarin further said nobody knew about the international prices, which he stated were quite high and that the government should have bought some cargoes earlier.
Tarin said the country’s imports of petroleum and gas touched almost $20 billion per year, which had been at $12 to $13 billion per year and now it had to pay $7-8 billion more in that regard.
Shaukat Tarin said that as per the market pundits, the prices would come down during December and January when the intensity of the Covid-19 pandemic would start declining.
Speaking on the gas crisis, Tarin said Pakistani companies were supplying gas to consumers. He added that a couple of gas discoveries were made in Lakki Marwat, however, money was needed for the extraction process.
Last week, Energy Minister Hammad Azhar took to Twitter to challenge journalist Shahzeb Khanzada to a debate on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and gas.
Shahzeb Khanzada, a year ago, had warned that the gas crisis was impending, kept reiterating that the crisis needs immense attention, otherwise the consequences shall be huge.
Azhar took to Twitter and proposed a challenge.
“I would like to challenge Shahzeb Khanzada to debate LNG and Gas issues with me moderated by a neutral anchor and with Independent experts. Let the ppl [people] see the facts without persistent interrupting, volume controls, teleprompters etc,” tweeted Azhar.
