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Power Minister Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari on Friday announced an end to loadshedding after Pakistan received first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo in nearly two months, while cautioning that dependence on expensive fuels could burden consumers financially.
Addressing a press briefing, he said that Pakistan received LNG shipments a day earlier, allowing authorities to restore normal electricity supply.
Leghari expressed confidence that, unless unexpected technical issues occur in the transmission lines, consumers should not experience any more power outages.
The minister was referring to the LNG carrier Seapeak Magellan, which docked at the Pakistan GasPort terminal and began supplying re-gasified LNG (RLNG) into the national network.
Carrying around 140,000 cubic metres of LNG, the vessel berthed at the terminal operated by Pakistan GasPort Consortium Limited on Thursday morning, The News reported.
The cargo — arranged by TotalEnergies at a price of $18.40 per mmbtu — marks the first LNG shipment to reach the country since a US-origin cargo arrived weeks earlier.
Government sources revealed that efforts were under way to arrange another LNG cargo for delivery between May 10 and 12, according to the report by the The News.
Meanwhile, the power minister said that the government had to purchase expensive LNG as gas supplies from Qatar were suspended due to the war in the Middle East.
Leghari said that recent outages were a temporary challenge faced by the public, primarily due to a shortage of gas.
He noted that consumers had experienced loadshedding over the past 13 to 14 days due to supply constraints, but timely measures helped restore balance in the system.
Highlighting improvements, he said that hydropower generation had increased to around 6,000 megawatts from nearly 1,000 megawatts earlier, contributing to stabilising supply.
Leghari pointed out that water releases from dams depended on requirements determined by relevant authorities and provincial needs.
Further, he explained that expensive furnace oil and other fuel-based plants were also operated to overcome the shortfall.
The minister said that generating electricity through diesel or furnace oil to completely eliminate loadshedding would have significantly increased costs, adding that the government would make all-out efforts to shield consumers from expensive electricity.
Leghari also clarified that the country's total electricity generation stood at around 32,000 megawatts, not 46,000 megawatts as sometimes perceived.
The minister expressed hope that transmission lines would remain fault-free to sustain an uninterrupted supply and said future loadshedding could be avoided due to proactive planning.
