Govt readies winter plan to secure LPG, LNG supplies: PM
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday the government is making all-out efforts to ensure adequate supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and oil this winter, despite rising international prices and disruption to maritime routes.
Chairing a federal cabinet meeting, he said the government is meeting every two to three days to review energy requirements and finalise contingency and coordination plans. He added that every effort would be made to keep power plants running and limit the impact of higher energy prices on the public.
The prime minister announced that the decades-old monopoly in the LPG sector had ended.
Locally produced LPG will now be allocated through competitive, supervised auctions, while importing companies must follow prescribed procedures. Revenue from the auctions will go to the national exchequer and be used to fund subsidies and relief for ordinary citizens.
On crude prices, he said Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik, his team, OGRA and the relevant committee had acted in a timely manner by asking refineries to share their windfall profits. The move helped avoid passing a proposed Rs15 per litre increase in petrol prices on to consumers.
The prime minister said the government’s subsidy programme, which has reached around 15 million people, will continue until at least the end of December. About Rs28 billion has been spent so far, benefiting an estimated 75 million people when family members are counted.
He said the programme was running transparently, but intelligence agencies had found irregularities at a few petrol pumps. He directed the petroleum minister to shut them down and impose heavy fines on those involved.
Regional instability, he said, was the main driver of the sharp rise in global crude prices, and Pakistan was working to promote peace and stability.
He cited recent diplomatic engagements, including two Pakistani delegation visits to Tehran, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir’s visit, and visits to Pakistan by the Saudi defence minister and Turkish official Ibrahim Kalin.
He said these had produced constructive talks on easing regional tensions and advancing the proposed trilateral arrangement between Pakistan, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia.
On security, the prime minister said the government had finalised a Rs160 billion development and security package for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He expressed confidence that the sacrifices of the armed forces and law enforcement agencies, together with better arrangements and provincial cooperation, would help eliminate terrorism.
He said the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan had suffered greatly from terrorism and reiterated the government’s resolve to eradicate it permanently.