Establish a gas market for boosting exports

Business Recorder carried an opinion piece arguing that Pakistan lacks a gas market able to price domestic supply and imported LNG on equal terms. The writer says gas is still allocated administratively and that utilities which transport it also sell it, leaving producers and private LNG suppliers waiting for access and payment. On this view, the decline in indigenous output reflects a market that no longer sends usable investment signals.

The piece cites official data showing average consumption of 2,929 mmcfd in July to March FY2026, made up of 2,316 mmcfd of indigenous supply and 613 mmcfd of RLNG. It adds that the Pakistan Economic Survey treats depletion of indigenous reserves as a major concern and reports no significant discoveries. The writer notes that domestic production expanded from about 1,800 mmcfd to near 4,000 mmcfd after the early 1990s producer-pricing overhaul.

The article argues that SNGPL and SSGC should give up commodity trading and act as regulated carriers handling safety, metering, balancing and transport. It also says the captive-power levy needs rethinking and that legacy gas circular debt, put at about Rs3.4 trillion by the IMF as of December 2025, should be ring-fenced. Imported LNG, in the writer's view, should compete on delivered cost rather than dominate, with OGRA policing access and publishing a delivered-cost dashboard.