The Petroleum Division has admitted that due to the non-expansion of domestic oil refineries, Pakistan has to import costly petrol and diesel rather than crude oil which costs a significant portion of foreign exchange.
Official documents of the Division revealed that if the country’s domestic oil refineries upgrade their facilities on modern lines, it will not only reduce the requirement of import of petrol and diesel but it will also save foreign exchange reserves of the country.
The Draft Oil Refining Policy is being finalized based on discussions with major foreign oil sector investors to attract the interest of foreign investment. The Policy is expected to be placed before the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet (ECC) for consideration and approval.
The documents regarding gas load shedding maintained that during the winter season, the natural gas demand in the domestic sector increases manifold due to the use of water and room heaters.
The Sui Companies are providing uninterrupted gas supply to consumers during cooking hours in compliance with the government-approved winter gas load management plan to facilitate domestic consumers. However, the consumers located at the tail end of the network will face low-pressure issues. For redressal of this, consumers are being offered LPG cylinders by Sui Companies.
The indigenous gas sources in Pakistan are depleting rapidly leading to a gap in supply and demand. The government has taken several mitigation measures to arrest the growth in demand as well as to improve supplies which include the import of LNG, award of new blocks for oil and gas exploration, and ban on expansion in the domestic network.
