ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Energy Minister Muhammad Ali on Tuesday said that total revolving debt of the energy sector is Rs5,422 billion.
In a media briefing, he said the revolving debt of the petroleum sector including interest is Rs322 billion, while the revolving debt of the petroleum sector without interest is Rs2,300 billion. The Minister of Energy said that the revolving debt of the power sector is Rs2,400 billion.
He further said that work was carried out on the Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline during their tenure, however, he did not know what the US wanted regarding the IP plan.
Energy sector: Circular debt jumps to over Rs5.725trn
Pakistan signed an agreement with Iran for a gas pipeline in the year 2009. Pakistan is bound to implement the gas project under the agreement. Pakistan will now build 80km pipeline within a year, he said that the caretaker government has worked on cheap energy, investment in the energy sector has been the priority of the caretaker government.
He said reforms have been made for gas pricing, system 29 percent of imported gas is included in Pakistan’s annual petroleum group’s import bill of $17.5 billion.
Dependence on local energy resources is a priority, new gas fields are expected to produce 40 crore cubic feet of gas per day.
If domestic energy resources are not increased, the import bill will increase greatly. Production will increase from local oil refineries, new oil refining policy will increase investment in the country, he said. An investment of 6.5 billion dollars is expected from the upgradation of local refineries.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024