Pakistan’s energy planning is entering a surreal phase. A country that once chased gas cargoes across oceans and rationed fuel to industry now finds itself unable to utilize what it already has. In a turn of events that defies economic logic and exposes deep flaws in governance, Pakistan is now facing a surplus, not of problems, but of gas.

Yet the electricity remains expensive with little reduction in tariff, efficient plants stay idle, and energy bills continue to spiral. This is not a crisis of resources; it is a crisis of coordination.

The government’s recent decision to impose a levy on captive power use aimed to bring industrial consumers back to the grid. In principle, this was a step forward, correcting years of inefficient parallel generation.

But the equation is not complete, and leads to the question what to do with the Cheap Spare Indigenous Gas that Captive is not going to consume?

This move caused a sharp drop in gas off-take from captive users, estimated at nearly 200 mmcfd on the SSGC network alone. Of this, at least 100 mmcfd is now stranded, with no alternative demand in sight. Total indigenous gas surplus is estimated to have reached approximately 300 mmcfd across the country.

Stranded gas is not just a lost opportunity, it is a liability. Gas that cannot be sold to industry or power producers will either be pushed into households at highly subsidized tariffs (further inflating the circular debt), or worse, left unused.

Rising linepack pressures in the transmission system have already forced gas producers to shut off wells, even as Pakistan continues to service long-term RLNG contracts and diverting RLNG shipments. Sometime Indigenous Gas wells are shut off to make........

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