Have you ever seen natural gas packed in plastic bags? Some netizens said they had seen it, saying that when the Shengli Oilfield was just producing gas, some people used this method to load natural gas.
Most Chinese people may not know how to load it, but some elderly people should have seen the huge bag on the top of the bus in the early years. This huge bag contains natural gas or gas.
(Gas ladle in the 50s of the last century)
It was still in the 50s of the last century, due to the extreme shortage of oil on the mainland, it had to come up with a way to fill natural gas in bags to fuel cars.
More than 70 years have passed, and all this has long since become a distant history. Now not to mention the cities, even some rural areas have been connected to natural gas pipelines. Nowadays, Chinese use gas and oil, which is very convenient.
However, even today in the 21st century, our neighbor Pakistan still uses plastic bags to pack natural gas.
Gas in plastic bags, time bombs
Last winter, a journalist in Pakistan spotted people packing natural gas in plastic bags in the country's northwestern region. It is the Karak region of Pakistan, located in the northwestern part of the country.
During the visit, the reporter found that the locals used various plastic pipes, first connected to the natural gas pipeline, and then under huge pressure, the natural gas flowed into the plastic bags prepared by the people.
In this way, the locals get their natural gas and take it home for cooking. In the photos and videos taken by reporters, some of the people carrying plastic bags of natural gas turned out to be children. It is even more faint from the photo that the plastic bag they used is also covered with tape to prevent air leakage.
Apparently these people who carry gas in plastic bags don't seem to realize that they are carrying a bomb. A slight pressure or high temperature can cause an explosion or fire.
(In 2015, media reported that some farmers in Shandong also used this method to load natural gas)
However, in the Karak region, the government does not supply gas to the locals. So, the locals are transporting gas in this way, in fact, stealing gas from pipelines. This kind of behavior is not only dangerous, but also illegal.
Locals are also frustrated, saying that because the government is not supplying gas to the area, people have creatively come up with a way to fill the gas in plastic bags. Obviously, this is a very helpless choice.
Ironically, the Karak region is not only rich in natural gas, but also has large oil resources. However, the locals who sit on oil and gas resources do not enjoy the convenience brought by energy.
The main reason for this is that Pakistan's natural gas extraction technology is not yet mature. As a result, the country has abundant natural gas resources, but it has been suffering from gas shortages for many years.
Moreover, not only in the Kakra region, but also in the capital Islamabad, the citizens of their usual gas supply are very limited.
The people of the capital are out of gas
Every winter, Pakistan starts to have an "air shortage". In several major cities, including Islamabad and Karachi, residents are severely disrupted with their daily use of natural gas.
Especially from the end of November, the gas shortage will be further exacerbated. In Karachi, the largest city, for example, more than 75% of the city is airless during the winter when there is no gas.
For example, even if there is gas supply in the homes of residents who can receive gas supply from pipelines, there will be frequent gas outages like power outages. Especially during the time period of cooking three meals a day, due to the concentration of gas, most families have no natural gas fire, and they can't even cook a meal.
Whenever the season of natural gas shortage comes, not only the gas consumption of residents, but also the gas consumption of restaurants on both sides of the street will also be affected. The shortage of natural gas has indirectly pushed up the price of food.
There will be a shortage of gas in the capital and in big cities like Karachi, and people in remote villages and mountainous areas do not even know what natural gas is.
Statistics show that as of 2021, natural gas accounted for nearly 40% of Pakistan's domestic energy consumption. With such a large demand, there is an abnormal shortage of gas, and the contradiction between supply and demand is very prominent.
According to domestic estimates, the daily supply of natural gas has been maintained at about 113 million cubic meters. However, the domestic demand for natural gas requires at least 169 million cubic meters per day. In the peak season, this demand rises further to 226 million cubic meters.
Pakistan's domestic gas production increased in 2012 and peaked during that time.
However, in the following decade or so, natural gas production has not continued to increase, but has shrunk and declined to a certain extent. The main reason is that the mining technology has not passed.
There is gas but no technology
If oil is added, Pakistan's dependence on oil and gas resources reaches 79%. Moreover, the annual demand for oil and gas is increasing at a rate of 5.7% and 7.5%.
Demand is increasing, but the reality is that there are large amounts of natural gas that cannot be utilized.
Pakistan is rich in natural gas reserves, especially the Sui gas field in Balochistan, which is one of the top ten natural gas fields in the world.
Oil and gas resources, mainly distributed in the north and south, have a total proven natural gas reserve of 7,984.8 billion cubic meters so far, and the recoverable reserves are 1,491.4 billion cubic meters.
Since the discovery of the Sui gas field in 1952, the proportion of natural gas used in Pakistan has been rising. But today, from technology to mining, the development for many years is not large.
For example, there are about 24 large-scale exploration enterprises, but half of them are foreign-owned, and the annual output of natural gas is maintained at about 39.6 billion cubic meters.
Among them, including oil extraction, the largest natural gas company is the National Oil and Gas Development Corporation. The company produces 22.1% of total natural gas and 48% of oil.
In terms of natural gas pipeline construction and transportation, the main transportation pipelines are about 8,000 kilometers, and the distribution pipelines are 53,000 kilometers. The consumer group covered by the natural gas pipeline is about 36 million people.
The total population of Pakistan is close to or even exceeds 240 million. In other words, the majority of Pakistanis still do not have access to natural gas. Even so, the government's supply is tight.
One factor is that the recoverable reserves of natural gas are decreasing. Although Pakistan's total proven reserves are close to 8 trillion cubic meters, the long-term recoverable reserves are only about 1.4 trillion cubic meters. And as of 2014, the mining volume has reached 537.7 billion cubic meters.
Seeing that the natural gas reserves that can be extracted continue to decline, and there is no technology for other natural gas extraction, Pakistan has no choice but to buy natural gas in recent years.
As a result, a second factor arises, which is subject to greater volatility in international natural gas prices. Due to the huge proven natural gas reserves in the world, Pakistan's natural gas purchase measures have not been greatly affected in the past decade or so.
However, since 2021, the shortage of natural gas in Europe has directly pushed up the price of international natural gas, which has also affected Pakistan's domestic natural gas imports. According to the data, Pakistan's gas shortfall at that time reached 11 million cubic meters per month.
Due to the rules of bidding in the international oil and gas market, in the case of rising natural gas prices, some oil and gas companies find buyers with higher prices in order to obtain higher profits, and even when they have already signed a contract with the Pakistani government, they would rather pay liquidated damages than refuse to fulfill the contract and continue to wait and see.
As a result, Pakistan's domestic gas shortage is even more severe. During the peak season of gas consumption that winter, the government announced a limit on supply, supplying gas to residents only three times a day. In some areas, gas supply has even been stopped altogether.
In fact, before that, in order to alleviate the situation of natural gas shortage, the Pakistani government has also taken a variety of measures.
Repair pipelines and buy gas
Next to Pakistan is Iran, which is extremely rich in oil and gas resources, and it is said that there will be no shortage of oil and gas for such a large energy producer, but for many years, Pakistan has spent a lot of trouble in order to buy Iran's oil and gas resources.
Also in the 90s of the last century, in order to buy Iranian natural gas, Pakistan and India had plans. The idea was to build a pipeline from Iran's South Pars gas field, then through Pakistan and eventually to India.
The plan was very ambitious, but as soon as it was proposed, the Americans jumped out and opposed it. Because, the United States has been imposing sanctions on Iran for many years, and once this project is completed, the Americans believe that the sanctions against Iran will be in vain.
So under the obstruction of the Americans, the project was eventually aborted. Later, due to ongoing tensions with India, India stopped participating in the project in 2009.
However, Pakistan has not given up on the project and continues to discuss the feasibility of pipeline construction with Iran. In this process, the United States has repeatedly obstructed, and it has also proposed two alternatives.
One option would be to build a pipeline through Afghanistan and then buy gas from Tajikistan. The other plan was proposed by Saudi Arabia, an ally of the United States in the Middle East. At that time, the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran had not yet been reconciled, and Saudi Arabia naturally hoped that Pakistan would buy its own natural gas, and also proposed to give certain preferential measures.
In the end, Pakistan did not agree to either of these options, insisting on buying gas from Iran. It was not until March 2013 that the construction of the project, which had been planned for many years, officially started.
Even when the project was launched, there were twists and turns during the subsequent construction period. In 2015, Pakistan had to pay a $3 million a daily fine to Iran because of delays. There was even outside speculation at the time that the project was in fact aborted again.
By April 2015, the mainland took over the laying of the pipeline, of which 700 kilometers were laid. The proportion of mainland investment is 85%, and the rest is borne by Pakistan, with a total investment of about 12.9 billion yuan.
In addition to the pipeline connecting Iran, Pakistan is also in contact with Russia to transport natural gas from Russia to Pakistan through Iranian transit. The natural gas transmission project is known as "Pakistan Stream".
According to media reports, back in 2015, a preliminary agreement was reached, but the start of construction was repeatedly postponed. According to last year's reports, the tentative start date for the project is this year. But to date, there is no further information about the progress of the project.
No matter which pipeline construction project it is, the influence of various factors is far away and near thirst.
epilogue
The shortage of natural gas has not been alleviated, and people have to take the risk of filling gas in plastic bags. Behind this last resort is the same dilemma faced by most developing countries in the world.
Some are due to energy shortages, some are technical constraints, and some are due to great power competition and geopolitical interference. These factors combined to create plastic bag natural gas. Behind the carrying of the time bomb is the helplessness of backwardness.
Resources:
"Residents of Karak, Pakistan carry natural gas in plastic bags," Global Fruit and Vegetable Network, January 30, 2023
"Pakistan's Natural Gas Pipeline Construction "Left and Right Open Bow"" China Petroleum News, March 28, 2022
"Iran-Pakistan Natural Gas Pipeline Starts Construction Under Sanctions Pressure", China Energy News, March 18, 2013