Pakistan is working to find a solution to the energy crisis that it has been facing and is trying to form a new energy alliance to ensure uninterrupted flow of energy to households and businesses.
Pakistan petroleum minister Musadik Masood Malik travelled to Kazakhstan last month.
He met his Kazakhstan counterpart Akchulakov Bilat Uralovich and both of them discussed the possibility of connecting Kazakhstan’s existing natural gas pipeline network with the proposed TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India), also known as Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline, network to facilitate gas supplies from Russia through Kazakhstan.
TAPI can only materialise if India agrees to become a part of the project but no talks are likely to take place since Pakistan continues to encourage anti-Indian elements on its soil who continue to spread terror in the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir.
Kazakhstan also rejected Pakistan’s proposal of joining the TAPI alliance citing that it does not produce enough gas to join the project. It also said that it cannot provide funds to the Pakistan gas network, news agencies ANI and GeoPolitik reported.
Pakistan raised the issue of including Kazakhstan in the TAPI project on the sidelines of the 6th CICA summit in 2013.
Pakistan faced an energy crisis throughout this year. The heatwaves during the summer led to a power crisis which was further exacerbated due to Pakistani authorities indulging in corruption and not paying their dues to Chinese authorities.
The floods in Pakistan also added to the crisis as it led to damages in ongoing projects and money had to be transferred to relief projects rather than focusing on energy security.
The decrease in exports, depletion of forex reserves as well as remittances, high inflation and corruption continues to add to the burden of the energy crisis. Earlier in June, a Bloomberg report said Pakistan purchased a single LNG shipment from the spot market at $100 million.
Pakistan has deals with Italian companies and suppliers from Qatar but all of them have defaulted.
Italian company Eni SpA and trading house Gunvor Group Ltd who had a 10-year deal with Pakistan supplied its European buyers but did not fulfil the requirements of the Pakistani market.
Pakistan’s indigenous gas reserves are also depleting fast and Islamabad requires two pipelines to keep gas flowing. Financial shortages and differences among promoters have stalled the work on TAPI.
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