Government to Set up Refinery to Meet Country’s Energy Needs: Malik

FOOLS_NIGHTMARE · Apr 29, 2023

State minister of petroleum also announces that authorities will favor poor households for provision of natural gas over power producers

Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Malik on Friday announced that the government plans to set up a refinery to help meet the country’s energy needs.

“Energy is necessary for economic progress,” he told a press conference after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy. “Pakistan will be on the road to progress soon,” he said, adding that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had approved the project during the meeting. It would cost between Rs. 10 and Rs. 14 billion, he added.

Malik hopes the new refinery would boost employment and reduce Pakistan’s dependence on imported fuel. He said it would also help the country’s economy by increasing energy production and reducing the cost of production for industries. To a question, he said the government was actively working on a new energy policy that would focus on utilizing LPG, LNG, and solar resources.

The state minister reiterated that Pakistan would soon receive its first cargo of discounted oil from Russia, noting that the incumbent government had achieved this deal while the ousted PTI-led government had merely engaged in “noisy propaganda.”

Malik also announced that the cabinet committee had decided to stop giving gas to captive power plants in favor of providing 50 million cubic feet per day of gas to poor households. “We will take back cheap gas from the rich and provide it to the poor,” he said, noting power plants were utilizing the gas to sell expensive electricity. “The monopoly of some people has been abolished,” he added.