Top News

New Delhi: The closure of the Hormuz Strait has affected the economy around the world. Its worst effect is visible on India’s neighbor Pakistan. The situation there has gone from bad to worse due to stoppage of oil and gas supply. Now, taking lessons from India and other countries, Pakistan has also prepared a plan to build a storage system for crude oil and refined products.

90% dependence increased the difficulty   

According to media reports, Pakistan is 90% dependent on the Hormuz waterway for the supply of oil and LNG. It also does not have any strategic petroleum reserves.

Due to tension in West Asia, it is facing a severe supply crisis. On top of that, due to the conditions of the IMF loan program, the Pakistan government does not have much freedom to spend.

Help sought from world’s biggest companies    

Pakistan’s energy ministry plans to increase oil storage capacity at both the government and private levels, according to documents seen by Reuters. Pakistan has shared this plan with big companies like Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi National Oil Corp, Kuwait Petroleum Corp, Qatar Energy and PetroChina. Apart from this, information has also been given to oil trading firms like Vitol, Trafigura and storage operator Vopak.

What is special in Pakistan’s plan?   

The Government of Pakistan is now emphasizing on increasing domestic exploration and production of oil and gas. It wants to modernize its refineries on the lines of India. There are also preparations to improve the system of selling and distributing oil. The Energy Ministry says that for the energy security of the country, it is necessary to have emergency oil reserves as well as strong capacity for domestic supply and production.

lessons for the future   

It is noteworthy that the Hormuz crisis showed Pakistan how dangerous it can be to depend on only one route. Now he wants that such a bad situation should not happen again in future. Therefore, work has been started on creating strategic reserves as well as increasing domestic production. However, lack of money and IMF conditions are a big challenge for him.