THE impending gas crisis and phenomenal increase in petroleum prices has left consumers high and dry. It is the adviser to the prime minister for petroleum and natural resources who has been making tall claims and then reneging as he goes along.

As adviser in 2008, he is responsible for mishandling the LNG import project by changing tender terms at a very advanced stage in the process causing irreparable damage to the project. Likewise, Kunnar-Pashaki gasfield in 2008 got the OGDC in an otherwise avoidable long-drawn legal battle. The consequences of his actions of 2008 have created an energy crisis in the country today.

During his second stint, he claimed that he will bring LNG by December 2011, then June 2012 and now 2014. It shows that he does not know what he is talking about. The SSGC’s buying the LPG terminal is also his brainchild. His latest claim is classic where he has uttered that he is bringing in 200 mmcfd of LNG from India by December 2012 through the Wagah border. LNG is not rice that can come on trucks through Wagah border.

It may be a political expediency for the government to overlook flawed policies at this stage. However, the winter of 2012 and the impending gas shortages can cost them the election soon thereafter.

S. SHAHNAWAZ SHAH
Tando Adam