ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- The natural gas supply to fertilizer plants in Pakistan was interrupted to ensure domestic consumers are not cut off, Pakistani ministers said.
Pakistani Energy Minister Naveed Qamar said gas supplies to fertilizer plants were suspended as the country grapples with a shortfall of 1.7 billion cubic feet in its domestic system, Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reports.
Qamar said the quickest option for Pakistan was to look for ways to import liquefied natural gas. A government decision on LNG is expected by the end of the month but it could take years for contracts to develop, he said.
Meanwhile, Islamabad was looking at gas reserves in the Kohat field as a domestic option while Qatar could emerge as an LNG source.
He said domestic infrastructure was to blame for much of the gas shortfall, adding measures to ramp up capacity have stagnated in the last year.
Iran points to its planned Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline from the giant South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf as the best option for Islamabad. Qamar said it would take at least four years for that project to develop, however.
