Daily Times

State-run Pakistan State Oil (PSO) seems to have got itself a new feather for its cap by purchasing a cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) at $20.055 per unit, which comes down to almost 30 percent of Brent crude, amounting to the highest-ever price paid by the country for the commodity and quite possibly the ‘second highest summer purchase in the world’, according to the local press. This comes when the government was trying to justify purchases by Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PLL) at a rate of $15.5 per mmbtu as more desirable than other alternate fuels and puts it squarely in the dock as well.

It is now, quite expectedly, being said that LNG is no longer viable at these rates for power generation in Pakistan. But since the country is also short of diesel and furnace oil to run power plants as electricity shortages multiply in the summer and irritate consumers, the government has little choice but to gulp these losses for no fault of its own. Now these prices will have to be charged to ‘certain consumers’, including power plants, for this month, which means that there will ultimately be more public expenses that the government has to subsidise, upsetting its calculations for the fiscal, or it will just pass them on to consumers and face their wrath at the next election.

Such problems arise every now and then because the petroleum and energy sectors are not, from the looks of things, properly monitored. Similar problems arose earlier in the calendar year when the PM demanded a thorough investigation and even ordered the then special assistant on petroleum, Nadeem Babar, to resign along with the petroleum secretary. But that was clearly not the end of the matter since the problem has arisen again; with more intensity than before. It is clear that the investigation did not reach a definitive conclusion. Or it was not long or deep enough to properly investigate all those involved in price manipulation and perhaps even corruption. That is why Prime Minister Imran Khan will have to take a lot more personal interest in this matter. Otherwise, even if it dies down now because of all the attention it is going to receive, it will pop up again sooner or later. *