According to a press release in national dailies, the government has decided to develop dormant gas-fields for the fertiliser industry. The press release was issued after the prime minister held a meeting on Aug 15 with Petroleum and Natural Resources (PNR) adviser Dr Asim Hussain and Finance Minister Dr Hafeez Shaikh.
The question is: what are dormant gas fields? In fact those are fields that have either marginal production capacities (two to four mmcfd) or those having low Btu gas that are not pipeline quality and are uneconomical to develop and have been capped. Moreover, these fields are geographically scattered and connecting them to the fertiliser industry in Punjab is a physical nightmare and will not have cumulatively enough nor qualitatively right gas for production of fertiliser. This is yet another of Dr Asim’s figment of imagination, raising hopes of the nation. He has been doing this with LNG, LPG, tight and shale gas, the terms he has been coining around from time to time.
Surprisingly, the PNR Minster has not been able to connect nor even mention the 500 mmcfd of pipeline quality gas that is lying ready to be connected for the past five years. He has failed because of his lack of skill and bad decisions that have brought avoidable misery to natural gas consumers. It is time the people and the government noted the problem and avoided being misled once again.
DAD M. BALOCH,
Canada, August 26.