Qatar may join the Iranian pipeline project that will supply natural gas to Pakistan, reported the Gulf News, citing Pakistan’s minister of petroleum and natural resources as saying on Monday.
"Qatar's joining in with the Iranian pipeline may be a possibility," said Usman Aminuddin.
According to the paper, Pakistan is weighing three options for gas imports: Turkmenistan, Qatar and Iran.
Other countries, said the minister, have also shown interest.
"The Chinese have recently expressed interest in joining one of the projects and we encourage other partners too," Aminuddin said.
Pakistan's current energy demand is about 42 million tons of oil, of which about 38 percent is being met by natural gas, according to a report in "Progress," the newsletter of Pakistan Petroleum Ltd, cited by the paper.
"To meet the shortfall in demand and supply, the government has to import huge quantities of oil worth several billion dollars," Aminuddin said. "To address this problem, the government has envisaged a two-pronged policy of exploiting the national potential through aggressive oil and gas exploration and utilization of the discovered reserves in a prudent manner by replacing imported oil with indigenous gas." -- Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
