ISLAMABAD: The Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) approved the establishment of new LNG terminals to meet the increasing demand.

A meeting of the CCoE, held under the chairmanship of Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar, approved the summary submitted by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs on the report of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on the establishment of new terminals.

The committee discussed the report in detail and approved the allocation of pipeline capacity. The chair directed to fast-track the work on setting up new LNG terminals.

The Power Division submitted the summary on the restructuring of Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) which was also approved by the Cabinet committee.

The major restructuring proposals approved included change of the nomenclature from Pepco to the Power Planning and Monitoring Company (PPMC); HR functions of the company delegated to the respective companies; the restricted company will continue to charge a fee to distribution companies, generation companies, and the National Transmission and Dispatch Company.

The restructured company will approach the development finance institutions and multilateral agencies to solicit support for capacity-building and the composition of the board of directors of the company.

The restructuring plan will be implemented by December 31, 2021 and the new HR will be hired for the company forthwith.

The committee also discussed the summary submitted by the Power Division on policy direction for the operation of the re-gasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) plants out of merit.

The meeting instructed to resolve the operational problems arising out of the import of RLNG.

The energy minister will hold a meeting with the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra). The solutions and the proposed way forward will be shared in the next meeting of the CCoE.

The meeting also reviewed the circular debt report of August 2021 submitted by the Power Division. The committee appreciated the fact that the increase in the circular debt during the last 12 months is only Rs57 billion, which shows a sharp reduction in comparison to Rs450 billion/annum inherited from the previous government.

Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar in a tweet said that in the ongoing fiscal year, the flow of circular debt in July-August period remained Rs13 billion, whereas in the same year last year, it was increased by Rs86 billion.

Ministers for finance, energy, maritime affairs, adviser to the prime minister on commerce and industries, special assistant to the prime minister on CPEC and representatives from the regulatory authorities and senior officials of the ministries/divisions participated in the meeting.