MULTAN: Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Saturday said the government was working on different gas projects to overcome energy shortages.

Addressing members of the Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the minister said imported LNG was an easy way to resolve the crisis and the government was constructing five LNG terminals.

He said three fertilisers factories had restarted production after regasified LNG added into the main supply system.

Work on the Pak-Iran gas pipeline and TAPI projects is progressing with a rapid pace, he said and added that the $20-25bn TAPI pipeline would be completed by 2019.

Khaqan said the government would regulate the LPG sector which would surely help availability of the cheapest gas to consumers throughout the year.

The minister said three power projects were being installed in Punjab which would be run by LNG and would produce 3,600 megawatts of electricity by 2017.

He suggested that all political parties should make “charter of economy” in order to keep consistency and continuity of economic policies to benefit the masses.

Answering a question, he said the government had made significant reduction in petroleum prices.

The minister said 70 new gas fields had so far been discovered during the ongoing tenure of the government. “Some companies had secured licences for oil and gas exploration for a period of 20 years. We have cancelled licences of 12 such firms because they were not working practically.”

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2016