The News reported that the private sector has accelerated liquefied petroleum gas import in a bid to bridge burgeoning demand and supply gap in winter months.

Two LPG cargoes each of 1,600 tonnes are expected to berth later this week, whereas 2,000 tonnes were imported earlier this month. With these two shipments, 68,000 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas will be imported this calendar year compared with 67,731 tonnes in 2010.

Mr Belal Jabbar CEO of Noor LPG said that “The increase in imports was necessary to offset the decline in domestic production of LPG and to meet the winter demand. It will stabilize prices at reasonable level in the domestic market.”

He said that liquefied petroleum gas production has declined mainly due to the issue of circular debt, he observed. Cash strapped refineries remain unable to operate at maximum capacity. The declining production of gas fields has also adversely affected availability of LPG.

He added that the government must focus on resolving the circular debt issue; since refinery produced LPG is cheaper than imports. The country has the potential to produce an additional 700 tons of liquefied petroleum gas at a fraction of the cost of imports.

(Sourced from www.thenews.com.pk)