Pakistan’s gas crisis has been years in the making. During the reign of Pervez Musharraf, tens of millions of vehicles were converted to CNG and unlimited cheap gas was provided to industry on the assumption – which should have been known to be mistaken even without the benefit of hindsight – that our gas supplies were limitless. Once it dawned on the government that there is no such thing as a free-for-all, attempts to import gas from Iran and through the TAPI pipeline were thwarted by US sanctions and security challenges. For the past few years now, Pakistan has faced acute shortages in winter leading to rationing for CNG stations and even gas shutdowns for both domestic and industrial users. This year has proven no different and the problem is only becoming worse as our gas reserves are quickly depleted. The government response has been to dissolve the board of directors of Sui Northern and Sui Southern and order a fact-finding committee to launch an inquiry against their managing directors. According to the government, the two gas supply companies are accused of incompetence, systematic governance failure and withholding information from the government.
How much truth there is to these allegations will need to be investigated but one can’t help but feel that government action is dictated by a need to look as if it is doing something about the problem rather than tackling the problem itself. This present gas crisis is not a one-off. It is structural in nature and needs a more comprehensive solution than simply reshuffling the top positions at gas supply companies. Sui Southern says that it is getting 1200 million cubic feet of gas per day from gas fields as opposed to 1280 million at this time last year due to “natural depletion of indigenous gas reserves”. This is the problem at its core. We are running out of gas and have not developed any alternatives.
The gas crisis could end up destabilising the federation with the Sindh government demanding that its supply of gas be restored within 24 hours or it may consider stopping gas produced in the province from going to other provinces. Such an attitude at a time when the entire country is suffering is unwise. For a problem that has been festering for years, a solution will require as much time. We need to set up alternative source of energy or else import gas that will be far more expensive than domestic gas. There is no quick-fix solution – no matter how much the government may feel that changing personnel and simply ordering a restoration of complete gas supplies may do the trick.