- Hydropower production increases to 6,000 MW: energy minister.
- Leghari says the government is using expensive fuel to stabilize supply.
- The total electricity production is 32,000 MW: minister.
Minister of Power Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari said on Friday that electricity load shedding had been completed in the country following the arrival of liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies, and warned that reliance on expensive fuels could put a financial burden on consumers.
During a press briefing, he said that Pakistan received LNG shipments a day earlier, which enabled the authorities to restore normal power supply.
Leghari expressed confidence that unless unexpected technical problems occur in the transmission lines, consumers should not experience more power outages.
The minister referred to the LNG carrier Seapeak Magellan, which docked at the Pakistan GasPort terminal and started supplying regasified LNG (RLNG) to the national grid.
Carrying about 140,000 cubic meters of LNG, the vessel berthed at the terminal operated by Pakistan GasPort Consortium Limited on Thursday morning. The news reported.
The cargo – arranged by TotalEnergies at a price of $18.40 per mmbtu – marks the first LNG shipment to reach the country since a US-origin cargo arrived weeks earlier.
Government sources revealed that efforts were underway to arrange another LNG cargo for delivery between May 10 and 12, according to the report of The news.
Meanwhile, the energy minister said the government had to buy expensive LNG as gas supplies from Qatar were suspended due to the war in the Middle East.
Leghari said the recent outages were a temporary challenge for the public, mainly due to a lack of gas.
He noted that consumers had experienced load shedding during the last 13 to 14 days due to supply constraints, but timely measures helped restore balance in the system.
Highlighting improvements, he said hydropower generation had increased to about 6,000 megawatts from nearly 1,000 megawatts earlier, helping to stabilize supply.
Leghari pointed out that water releases from dams depended on requirements set by relevant authorities and provincial needs.
He further explained that expensive furnace oil and other fuel-based plants were also operated to overcome the shortage.
The minister said generating electricity through diesel or fuel oil to completely eliminate loadshedding would have increased the cost significantly, adding that the government would make all-out efforts to protect consumers from expensive electricity.
Leghari also clarified that the country’s total electricity production was about 32,000 megawatts, not 46,000 megawatts as sometimes perceived.
Expressing hope that transmission lines would remain fault-free to maintain uninterrupted supply, the minister said future load shedding could be avoided due to proactive planning.
