February 26, 2008	Tuesday	Safar 18, 1429

KARACHI, Feb 25: The demand for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has increased by 14 per cent in the last eight years while its local production progressing at 10.8 per cent, thus calling for a rise in its import to meet the domestic requirements.

This was stated by CEO and Managing Director of Progas Pakistan Ltd Abbas Bilgrami while responding to newsmen questions at a presentation at company’s LPG terminal at Port Qasim on Monday.

GM Finance Muhammad Akhtar gave a presentation.

Mr Bilgrami said the import of LPG had also grown by 48.8 per cent during this period. He said production of LPG from gas fields and by refineries had been stagnant and by increasing LPG import, Pakistan could overcome energy shortage for short term.

He pointed out that use of LPG was limited in Pakistan while it was widely used the world over in different sectors, including automobiles, industry, power generation and poultry farms.

He said the government was not giving priority to this sector as far as the energy mix in concerned. “While import of gas will take a longer time and local exploration activities are not giving instant results, the LPG can play an important role in the short-term scenario,” he added.

Mr Bilgrami said the LPG had been deregulated in Pakistan and the government would not need to provide a huge subsidy for its import and local distribution like it is providing on the import of oil.

He said the infrastructure was available for handling LPG import and its distribution. The only thing the government needed was to facilitate producers and importers, he noted.

He said the private sector had made a large investment in LPG sector and they should not be discouraged.

Mr Bilgrami said that his own company had the capacity of handling two million tons of LPG per annum. Other large LPG players, including producers from gas fields and refineries, also had significant capacity, he opined.

To a question, he said the importers would not want to create a shortage of LPG, as it would result in price hike. Vested interests and middlemen would wish for a shortage for profiteering, he added.

He pointed out that LPG was only 5 per cent of the total energy mix in the country and its share should be increased.

He said 15 to 20 per cent of the total households in the country were using LPG, besides thousands of auto-rickshaws.—APP