Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi says the government is committed to resolve the issue of energy shortage and has successfully reduced the gap between demand and supply both in the electricity and natural gas.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony of the second Liquefied Natural Gas terminal at the Port Qasim, the Prime Minister said work was going on several power projects to overcome the challenge in shortest possible time.

The terminal has been completed in a short time at a cost of fifty billion rupees.

He said there was a huge potential for investment in the LNG sector as the country has a huge market for natural gas.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the LNG was the cheapest fuel available in the country and would adequately meet the requirements of the commercial, industrial, domestic and the CNG sectors.

He said the challenge of power shortages has been addressed with the import of the LNG and more LNG terminals will be set up in future.

He said a coal based power plant of one thousand three hundred megawatt is under-construction while more plants are also in pipeline.

The Prime Minister said that three gas based power plants will soon be initiated in the country.

He said government has successfully completed all the projects that we had started and completion of second LNG terminal in a short time is also a proof.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the industry is growing with five point three percent of GDP which is expected to rise to six percent in the next financial year.

He said the demand for LNG is increasing and setting up of the second terminal without government guarantee is manifestation of confidence of the market.  

Pakistan was importing six hundred million cubic feet of LNG per day (mmcfd) through its first LNG terminal at Port Qasim.

The new second terminal would handle another six hundred mmcfd, taking the total import volume to one point two billion cubic feet per day.