PROPHETS of doom have been projecting a bleak picture of Pakistan’s energy sector. And for good reason too. The country’s natural gas troubles, persisting for quite some time now, continued into this winter, rightly labelled by some as ‘the winter of discontent’.

CNG closures have become a way of life, low gas pressure has compelled people to come out in the streets and the recent $25 million LNG import project tender that got stalled in the middle are reasons enough to be concerned about the prevalent state of affairs.

However, the scenario is not as miserable as many analysts would have us believe. Only recently a whopping 9,000 metric tons of liquefied petroleum gas was imported from the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company through a largest-ever LPG vessel to have made it to Port Qasim’s shores.

This major development clearly proves that import of LPG has now become more indispensable than ever in order to meet the current energy shortfall in the country, as well as for future sustainability.

Having said that, major projects such as import of LPG, LNG and transnational pipelines hold the key for alleviating Pakistan’s natural gas woes.

One sincerely hopes that unlike the last LNG tender process, the next one would be carried out without a glitch and in an extremely transparent manner to ensure the most deserving project developer on board. It would be in the best interest of everybody.

S. MAHBOOB AHMED Karachi