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Pakistan is facing a crippling gas crisis this winter, with the nation resorting to rationing fuel.
Videos shared on social media claim that people have been filling balloons with cooking gas to use later. While Firstpost cannot confirm the veracity of such videos but they emerge amid reports of shopkeepers in the country illegally selling locally manufactured plastic bags filled with cooking gas.
In Pakistan, the practice of using gas packed in plastic bags instead of cylinders for cooking has increased. Gas is sold by filling bags inside the shops connected to the gas pipeline network. People use it in the kitchen with the help of a small electric suction pump.#pkmb pic.twitter.com/e1DpNp20Ku
— R Singh…🤸🤸 (@lonewolf_singh) December 31, 2022
Former federal minister for petroleum, Dr Asim Hussain, has asserted that he is 80 per cent certain that natural gas will be exhausted in Pakistan by next year.
“I predicted in 2012 that there would be no gas in the next 10 years if the policy is not implemented, and the same thing happened as I predicted, so now I’m 80% certain that there won’t be gas starting next year,” the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune.
Let’s take a closer look at Pakistan’s gas crisis spurred on by the country’s economic crisis.
Pakistan’s cooking gas crisis
People have been complaining of a shortage of gas for cooking meals, as per reports.
The gas crunch has only worsened in Sindh and Karachi in the past few weeks, notes ThePrint.
In Karachi, there have been complaints of no gas and even low gas pressure which has hindered people from cooking meals properly.
Consumers of Karachi’s primary gas supplier, Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), have claimed they are not getting gas for cooking meals despite the firm’s promise earlier, Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported.
In December last year, the company announced that domestic consumers would get gas only for eight hours a day during “meal times”.
Residents of affluent areas, as well as low-income neighbourhoods, now say that SSGC has failed to deliver on its commitment.
“There is not enough gas in the house to make breakfast. We get very low pressure, and the flame of the stove is similar to the flame of a candle. My family, including my young children, have to make do with tea and biscuits because we can’t cook eggs or paratha with such low gas pressure,” a resident told Dawn.
Another Karachi resident told the Pakistani newspaper that they have gas but it “vanishes” during the peak hours.
“We have gas most of the time but not at breakfast, lunch or dinner time, which is so strange and such a huge problem,” he was quoted as saying by Dawn.
Cash-strapped Pakistan may get some relief in 2023. AFP (Representational Image)
An SSGC spokesperson said they did not want to inconvenience the consumers but pointed out Pakistan’s dipping gas resources.
“We are losing gas resources by 10 to 20 per cent every year and it has an impact. Whatever gas we have, we wanted to prioritise cooking food. So we had announced a schedule for providing gas in the morning, afternoon and evening. But what is going on now is that since everyone is cooking at the same time when we had promised to carry on no loadshedding of gas, the pressure in the pipelines are dropping,” the spokesperson told Dawn.
In the absence of cooking gas, Pakistan’s citizens have to rely on LPG cylinders, which are burning a hole in their pockets.
“Since there is no gas to cook food, we had to buy an LPG cylinder. However, for someone whose monthly budget is Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 this alternative is highly unaffordable,” a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa resident told The Tribune.
Last month, Sindh energy minister Imtiaz Sheikh acknowledged that the crisis had worsened in his province, which he said was surprising since Sindh produced the country’s highest quantity of gas, PTI reported.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan government has also refused to sell expensive imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) to households at cheaper prices.
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Reasons for the gas crunch
Several factors have contributed to Pakistan’s debilitating gas crisis including Russia’s war with Ukraine which triggered food shortages and high fuel prices globally.
Disputes with foreign gas suppliers, an increase in demand, dwindling foreign exchange reserves, as well as its fast-shrinking gas supplies, have further led to the current crisis in the country.
There has been no discovery of new gas reserves in the last 20 years in Pakistan, as per PTI.
Senior Petroleum Division officials told a parliamentary panel in the country in November 2022 that there was no option but to ration natural gas amidst the growing shortage every year, as per Dawn.
Moreover, there is little foreign interest in investing in Pakistan’s oil and gas exploration sector due to the nation’s “political instability, policy inconsistencies, weak contract enforcement, and security issues”, Dawn reported.
Notably, in some respite for cash-strapped Pakistan, the country will start to buy oil from Russia at discounted prices starting this year.
“Russia has decided to provide Pakistan crude [oil] at discounted rates. Russia will also give [gasoline] and diesel to Pakistan at lower prices,” Musadik Malik, the South Asian country’s petroleum minister, had said in early December, as per Nikkei Asia.
With inputs from agencies
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