Oil Shortage and Energy Crisis

Energy is believed to be life line of any economy and most essential instrument of socioeconomic growth of a country. Energy is fundamental in running machinery in factories and industrial units, for lighting our cities and powering our vehicles etc. There has been an vast increase in the demand of energy as a outcome ofpopulation growth and industrial development, in contrast to improvement in energy production. Therefore the supply of energy is, far less than the actual demand, resultantly crisis has come to light. Any bottleneck (or price rise)is defined as energy crisis in the supply of energy resources to an economy. Pakistans energy infrastructure is not well equipped, rather it is considered to be poorly managed and underdeveloped. The country is currently facing severe energy crisis. Despite of rising energy demand and strong economic growth during past decade, no serious efforts have been made to induct new capacity of generation. Moreover, power theft, rapid demand growth, transmission losses due to outdated infrastructure, and seasonal reductions in the availability of hydropower have deteriorated the situation. Thus, the demand exceeds supply and hence load-shedding is a common occurence through power shutdown. Energy supply and per capita availability of energy during 2009-10 observed a decline of 0.64 % and 3.09 % respectively in contrast to previous year. Pakistan requires around 15,000 to 20000 MW electricity per day, currently, however it is able to produce about 11,500 MW per day hence there is a shortfall of about 4000 to 9000 MW per day. This shortage is badly obstructing the economic growth of the country.

Energy Consumption :

Pakistan s energy consumption is met by mix of gas, oil, electricity, coal and LPG sources with different level of shares. Share of gas consumption stood at 43.7 %, followed by oil 29.0 percent, electricity 15.3 percent, coal 10.4 percent and LPG 1.5 percent.
Sources of Energy in Pakistan: Non-renewable resources (Fossil fuels): Non renewable resources are primarily fossil fuels coming from decomposition of animals and plants build up deep into the earth crust and converted i nto oil and gas. These resources cannot be replaced. Mainly there are three types of fossil fuels: petroleum,coal, natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). a). Petroleum products: In 2009-10, consumption of petroleum products was 30% of total share of energy. To meet the demand, majority of crude oil is imported from gulf countries. Industry, power, and transport sectors utilize higher quantity of petroleum followed by agriculture and house holds. For generation of electricity, Petroleum is consumed, which counts 64 % of total electricity generation (34% coming from hydro generation). Balance recoverable reserves of crude oil in the country have been estimated at 303.63 million barrels and only 24 million crude oil is extracted annually, meaning if new wells are not explored, the crude oil reserves will exhaust in 12-13 years.

b). Natural Gas: Natural gas importance is increasing rapidly. Average production of natural gas is 4,048.76 million cubic feet per day as against 3,986.53 million as compared to last year, showing an increase of 1.56 percent. Natural gas is used in the general industry to prepare consumer items, for manufacturing fertilizers, to produce cement, and to generate electricity. In the form of CNG, it is used in transport sector. The total share of Natural Gas consumption is 43.7. Due to price disparity between CNG and Petrol, vehicles are being converted to CNG and approximately 2.0 million vehicles are using CNG and Pakistan is currently the largest CNG user country in the world. Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) chips in around 0.7 percent to total energy supply in the country. c). Coal: Coal Reserves in Pakistan have been estimated at over 185 billion tonnes, including 175 billion tonnes at Thar coalfields. Coal is primarily being used in cement industries and brick kiln, approximately 67 percent coal is imported. Guddu plant is largest plant thermal operated plant with a capacity of 1,650 MW, while two largest Independent Power Plants (IPPs) in Pakistan are Kot Addu (1,600 MW) and Hubb River (1,300 MW). Renewable Resources : Renewable energy resources, which are naturally replenished and comes from resources such as water, wind, sunlight, rain, tides, and geothermal heat. a). Hydro power: Hydro power is generated by using electricity generators to extract power from moving water. Pakistan has a surplus resource of energy in hydal power, however, only 34 % of total electricity generation is coming from hydro power. Currently we are having 6555 MW against the potential of 41000 to 45000 MW. Current Hydropower stations:

Mangla 1,000 MW, Warsak 240 MW, Ghazi Brotha: 1450 MW, Chashma 184 MW, Tarbella Dam 3,478 MW
Potential Hydropower stations: Diamer-Bhasha Dam 4500 MW, Munda Dam Swat river in Mohamand Agency 740 MW , Kalabagh Dam 2400-3600 MW, Bunji Dam 5400 MW, Dasu Dam 3800 MW Alternative Sources of Energy : a). Wind: Wind power utilizes the power of the wind to propel the blades of wind turbines. These turbines cause the revolving of magnets, which creates electricity. Though Pakistan has potentials of wind energy ranging from 10000 MW to 50000 MW, yet power generation through wind is in early stages in Pakistan and currently 06 MW has been set up in first phase in Jhampir through a Turkish company and 50 MW is to be installed shortly. More wind power plants are to be built in Jhampir, Keti Bander, Gharo, and Bin Qasim in Karachi. b). Solar : Solar power comprises of using solar cells to convert sunlight into electricity, using sunlight hitting solar thermal panels to convert sunlight to heat water or air. Pakistan has potential of more than 100,000 MW from solar energy. Building of solar power plants is underway in Sindh, Punjab, Kashmir and Balochistan. Private vendors are however,

importing panels, solar water heaters for consumption in the market. Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) is working for 20,000 solar water heaters in Gilgit , Baltistan. Governments have asked Mobile companies to shift supply of energy to their transmission towers from petroleum to solar energy panels. c). Agricultural biomass /biodiesel : Biomass production includes using garbage or other renewable resources such as corn, sugarcane or other vegetation to generate electricity. When garbage decomposes, methane is produced and trapped in pipes and later burned to produce electricity. Wood and Vegetation are burned directly to generate energy, like fossil fuels, or processed to form alcohols. Followed by USA, Brazil has one of the largest renewable energy programs from biomass/biodiesel in the world. Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) of Pakistan has planned to generate 10 MW of electricity from municipal waste in Karachi and twenty cities of the country. d). Tidal: By locating a water turbine in a tidal current, Tidal power can be extracted from Moongravity-powered tides . The turbine can turn an electrical generator, or a gas compressor, that stores energy until needed. Coastal tides are a source of clean, renewable, free, and sustainable energy. Plans are in progress in Pakistan to utilise tidal energy, however, no implementation has been made so far. Nuclear: Nuclear power stations uses nuclear fission reaction to generate energy by the reaction of uranium inside a nuclear reactor. Pakistan has a small nuclear power program, with 425 MW capacity, but there are plans to increase this capacity significantly. Since Pakistan is out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it is barred from trade in materials or nuclear plant, which holds back its development of civil nuclear energy. The remaining issues in development of nuclear energy are enrichment of uranium from U235 to U238, dumping of solid waste and controlling chain reaction. Causes of Energy Crisis : Pakistans energy crisis traces its roots to the following reasons : Growing Energy Demand , over the years there is greater need of energy because of increase in population. Enhancement in lifestyle, industrial and agricultural growth , greater transportation needs, and Lack of proactive and integrated planning for production of energy. Pakistan has had extensive potentials to tap energy, however, due to l ack of any integrated, proactive planning, very few number of power producing plant w ere installed to meet future demands. Subsequently, over the years, the gap between energy demand and supply drastically grew and now against demand of 20000 MW, we have around 11500 MW. y Imbalanced energy mix

Energy mix in Pakistan is quite imbalanced in contrast to other countries, with greater dependance on non-renewable resources of gas 43.7 % and oil, 29 % majority of which is imported. Prices of petroleum products and crude oil fluctuate and in the current AfroArab political crisis, the oil prices are likely to rise manifold affecting oil prices in Pakistan.

A rational energy mix planning needs to be developed giving a lot dependency to renewable (hydel power), indigenous (coal) and al ternative energy resources (solar and wind energy). Nuclear energy can y Non-utilization of enormous indigenous energy resources:

Thar Coal: Pakistan has one of the largest coal fields in Thar, having reserves of more than 175 billion tones, which surpasses equivalent oil reserves of Saudi Arabia, Iran etc. In addition to power generation, th is coal can be used for fertilizer and chemical production. Hydal power generation : Pakistan has the aptitude of hydro resources to generate 41000 to 45000 MW, however, only 6555 MW is at present being generated by this important renewable resource. Four large hydro power dams namely Kalabagh 3600 MW, Bhasha 4500 MW , Bunji 5400 MW and Dasu 3800 MW can be built to generate hydro electricity. Correspondingly, many small to medium hydro plants can be installed on rivers and canals etc. Consequences of Energy Crisis : a). Economic Factors: Energy is instrumental for running all other resources and crisis of energy directly effects all other sectors of the economy. The economic progress is hindered by decline in agricultural productivity as wel l as faltering in operations of industries. One important factor of lo wer GDP and inflation of commodity prices in recent years is credited to shortfalls in energy supply. b). Agriculture Sector: Agricultural productivity of Pakistan is decreasing due to stipulation of energy for running agricultural machinery, tube wells and production of pesticides and fertilizers. Therefore higher energy means higher agricultural productivity. c). Industrial Sector: Almost all Industrial units are run with the breakage in energy supply and energy is having terrible consequences on indu strial growth. As a result of decline in energy supply, industrial units are not only being opened, as well as the existing industrial units are gradually closing. d). Unemployment: By closing of industrial units and less agricultural productivity, new employment opportunities have ceased to exist and already employed manpower is torn by the employers to increase their profit ratios. Therefore energy crisis contributes towards unemployment. e). Social Issues: This factor is primarily related to the domestic usage of energy (cooking, heating and water provision). Load shedding cause s frustration and unrest among the people and it results in agitation against the government. f). Poverty: Declination in economic growth,unemployment, lower agricultural productivity and shackling industrial growth result in increasing poverty. At Present, around forty percent of the population is living beyond poverty line and thi s ratio is increasing everyday. Ample control of energy crisis will surely yield in curbing t he nuisance of poverty.

Conclusion: Energy Crisis has, more or less, overwhelmed all sectors of Pakistans machinery ranging from agriculture to social life, economy to industry, inflation to poverty and it is hindering national progress in a drastic manner. Never the less, menace of energy crisis can be overcome by the government by making effective policies and its proactive implementation. Similarly, it is the responsibility of the people of Pakistan, to utilize the available energy intelligently and wisely to play a due role for progress of the country. Recomendations/Solutions of Energy Crisis : Energy crisis can be reduced by: -Unnecessary reduction energy use. -Using of electricity saving devices. -Energy Saving Awareness campaign. -Reduction in needless transportations by developing good public transport systems and strengthening Pakistan railways. -Reduction in industrial uses with inst allation of effective equipment, energy efficient and with increasing efficiency of workforce. -Decreasing reliance on rental power projects, instead of doing any good, they are increasing the prices of electricity. -Decreasing line losses by using cost effective power transmission cables.

-Development of new energy resources. -Tapping indigenous (Thar coal) resources. -Using renewable resources by constructing new dams and hydro power plants(water). -Import of natural gas by TAPI (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India) and IPI (Iran Pakistan India) pipelines . -Import of electricity from Tajikistan -through Pak Tajikistan Afghan transmission- and Iran (approximately 1000 MW from each of them) pipelines.
References : y y y y y y y Fact File : Energy Crisis in Pakistan June 2008 Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) CSS Forum - CSS Examination Preparation & Civil Service of Pakistan Wikipedia energy crisis: what can we do? How to survive the energy crisis in Pakistan Overseas Pakistani Friends Economic Survey of Pakistan 2009-10 Energy Demand in Pakistan: A Disaggregate Analysis by Muhammad Arshad Khan, Senor Research Economist & Usman Ahmed, Staff Economist, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad