The Energy Sector of Pakistan and Its Cooperation with The SCO Countries

The author of the article examines the oil and gas energy sector of Pakistan, which is a net importer of energy resources. The researcher notes that the development of energy is hindered by the unstable socio-political situation in the republic (the unification of opposition parties, rallies and riots demanding the resignation of the government), as well as the process of the country‘s recovery from the economic crisis and the fulfillment of its obligations to repay loans previously received from the IMF, China and Saudi Arabia. All this significantly affects the situation in the energy sector, where the northern densely populated province of Punjab is not fully provided with hydrocarbon and other resources. Nevertheless, the Government of I. Khan is making efforts to modernize the energy sector of the republic. Thus, at the end of 2020, an additional protocol to the 2015 intergovernmental agreement between Russia and Pakistan was signed, which will allow the construction of the Pakistan Stream gas pipeline (ex. North-South Stream gas pipeline) to begin in July 2021. It will connect the southern cities of Karachi and Gwadar, where the regasification terminals of liquefied natural gas are located with the city of Lahore in the north of the country. Undoubtedly, this will contribute to the socio-economic development of the republic. The researcher notes that in addition to the Pakistan Stream, Islamabad is going to implement another project for the construction of the main gas pipeline Iran-Pakistan-India. Pakistan plans to complete construction on its territory by 2024. However, there are still significant risks for this project. In particular, India has withdrawn from this project again. The author draws attention to the fact that the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (IRP) is currently focused on the purchase of LNG and is actively building regasification terminals. Despite the security issues within the republic (primarily terrorist activity in Balochistan province) and the presence of a common long border with Afghanistan, the IRP seeks to significantly expand its infrastructure and thus increase the future transit potential. This is done not only with the help of the main investor – China, which is somewhat more cautious, than before the pandemic of the new coronavirus infection, in treating infrastructure investments projects, in particular to Pakistan. Islamabad is trying to enlist support from the financially prosperous Arabian monarchies of the Persian Gulf. Such investments, of course, will not save the country from the economic crisis and rising inflation, but will prevent the collapse of the national economy.

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