ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Islamabad needs more natural gas from Turkmenistan to allay supply concerns, though new reserves are developing in Pakistan, a minister said.
The government in Pakistan this week signed off on the agreement for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India natural gas pipeline.
The planned 1,043-mile pipeline will deliver 1.2 billion cubic feet of gas per year to Pakistan and India. Afghanistan gets the remaining 700 million cf planned for the pipeline.
Pakistani Petroleum Minister Syed Naveed Qamar said all sectors in his country had to cope with energy shortages, Pakistan's Daily Times newspaper reports. Pakistani company Sui North Gas Pipelines cut gas supplies to the industrial sector in Punjab during the weekend to meet rising winter demand.
Gas companies, he said, have been asked to resolve the issue of gas shortages "through goodwill."
The TAPI pipeline would help alleviate some of the gas shortages in the country, he said, but new gas discoveries in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province added to net reserves.
The pipeline is viewed as a rival to Iran's plans to build a pipeline from its giant South Pars gas field.
