Pakistan Energy Supplies Secured Through November, Aurangzeb Says, as Gulf Infrastructure Attacks Worry Islamabad

Bangkok: Pakistan energy supplies are secured through November, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Saturday, adding that the government is now planning for the winter months, when household demand climbs sharply. Costly spot LNG cargoes, he said, will not be bought unless there is an “absolute dire need”.

No shortages, no queues

Speaking to AFP on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok, Aurangzeb said the first shock of the energy price surge had been handled. “The first-order impact has been negotiated well by Pakistan,” he said. “We’ve had no shortage, no queues at the gas stations, and no law and order situation, which at times we have seen in some of the countries.”

The worrying part is the infrastructure

His concern is what comes next. Attacks on energy facilities in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states are, in his words, the worrying part for Pakistan’s longer-term outlook: if the infrastructure keeps getting hit, a return to normalcy will take longer even after the fighting subsides. Global energy prices have surged since the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran in February, and Houthi attacks on Saudi facilities in recent days have added to the pressure.

Pakistan is in the middle of a roughly $7 billion IMF programme, under which a $1.2 billion tranche was agreed this month.