Islamabad: The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Singapore-based firm Trafigura, Fadi Mitri, requested Pakistani officials to open up the gas sector for private companies, so that customers could avail the benefits of a competitive market, a news source reported.
Fadi Mitri spoke at the Pakistan Reform Summit 2020 and stated that private companies provided gas to consumers at competitive prices in many countries, including the United States, China, Malaysia, and several European countries.
He added that Asian liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices recently plummeted below USD 4 per million British thermal units for the first time since 2009 due to the new supply flow from United States and Australia; however, Pakistan still imports gas from Qatar and some other providers at excessive rates. Then, it supplies this LNG to consumers at PKR 1,700 per million British thermal units due to the control of state-owned companies.
CEO Trafigura said that the government had permitted the private sector to import LNG, but the first shipment had not reached. This occurred due to various issues emerging in the operation. Former Board of Investment chairman Haroon Sharif told the summit that the shortfall of gas demand would remain even after Iran-Pakistan (IP) and Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipelines were developed. It is a good time to invest in the LNG market as prices have taken a nosedive, he added.
