ISLAMABAD: The newly appointed Minister for Petroleum Ghulam Sarwar Khan on Friday said the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) import deal signed with Qatar would be made public and its impartiality reassessed by experts.
After concluding a briefing to all departments and companies coming under the purview of the petroleum ministry, Mr Sarwar held his first official press conference, reports Dawn.
During the press conference, the petroleum minister raised serious contentions over the LNG deal signed with Qatar and called the fuel pricing mechanism faulty as diesel should be cheaper than petrol.
While talking about the LNG deal with Qatar, Mr Sarwar said doubts over it have been reinforced by the fact the previous government kept it secret for a long time despite public pressure.
He added, the new government believed in transparency and is answerable to the public for every decision.
The details of the LNG deal signed with Qatar will be posted on the petroleum ministry’s website, said Sarwar.
He added the deal’s impartiality to the country or not would be reassessed by experts and stressed there was no reason to keep the document linked to import of LNG from Qatar a secret.
Also, the petroleum minister said corruption will not be tolerated at any cost and austerity measures will be taken as per the vision of the prime minister.
He said local production of petroleum products is just fifteen percent which will be increased, and efforts will be geared up to exploit new reserves.
Mr Sarwar said oil prices will be fixed as per the trend at the international market and informed Pakistan Petroleum Limited has discovered an oil reserve in district Sangharh, Sindh.
To a question the petroleum minister said TAPI Pipeline will be completed on a fast track basis, however, any further progress on Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline wasn’t possible due to sanctions on Iran.
He voiced optimism that Iran wouldn’t move the international court against Pakistan regarding the IP pipeline.
