Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) has stressed upon the government to take urgent measures for settling the litigations of gas exploration companies as further delay in resolving their issues will hamper new investment in oil & gas sector of the country.

Chairing a meeting of E&P sector entrepreneurs, Mr.Zahid Maqbool, President, ICCI said that presently about 350 MMSCFD (million standard cubic feet per day) of discovered gas in Kunnar, Pasaki, Tando Allah Yar and Sinjhoro fields is stranded for the last more than 7 years due to litigation issues despite the fact that Pakistan badly needs to exploit this gas for improving energy generation
.
Entrepreneurs said that another field known as Mehar, operated by a Malaysian company M/s. Petronas can bring in at least 30-50 MMSCFD of gas into the mainstream gas system. However, this gas is also lying unutilized due to security reasons. They urged that government should improve security situation in that area so that this discovered gas could also be used for power production.

Mr.Zahid Maqbool said that Pakistan spent $ 9.5 billion in import of 10.6 million tons of petroleum products and 7.8 million tons of crude oil in the last financial year, which is a heavy drain on our foreign exchange.

He said according to some studies, Pakistan possesses estimated 62.26 trillion cubic feet of unexplored gas reserves and 3.5 billion barrels of unexplored oil reserves. He said government should give high priority to investment in the oil and gas sector to explore and exploit these huge natural resources for the benefit of the country.

He said that in view of the current energy crisis, which is badly crippling business and industrial sectors, government should approach the superior court for early settlement of litigation issues so that discovered gas could be brought into the main system on fast track basis.