With traffic through the Strait of Hormuz still badly disrupted, Pakistan has emerged among the countries most vulnerable to interruptions in gas supplies. Qatar and the UAE provide about 99 per cent of Pakistan’s LNG, while imported gas now accounts for roughly 30 per cent of total gas supply. That concentration was always going to become a liability once the Gulf turned into a war zone.
The problem is not simply that ships cannot move freely. Pakistan has built an energy system with little room to absorb such shocks. LNG feeds power generation, fertiliser production and industry, while domestic gas output has been falling for years. When one maritime chokepoint is disturbed, the consequences move quickly from the Gulf to factories, electricity generation and ultimately household bills.
There is an awkward irony here. Only months ago, Pakistan was dealing with excess LNG cargoes because domestic demand had weakened. Now the debate has swung towards shortages, expensive spot purchases and securing fresh long-term supplies. The speed of that reversal says plenty about how little flexibility exists between contracted volumes, domestic consumption and storage.
That is why discussions at Gastech over gas-storage facilities deserve attention. Pakistan has almost no strategic cushion for gas. Long-term supply contracts can reduce price uncertainty, but they cannot keep Hormuz open. Storage would at least give policymakers time to respond when shipments are delayed rather than forcing the economy immediately into conservation mode.
Gas disruptions have already pushed the government towards greater use of coal, hydropower and nuclear generation, while the Gastech report has also urged faster investment in solar, wind and storage. None offers an overnight escape. Coal carries its own import and environmental costs; hydropower depends on projects and water flows, and solar without storage cannot cover every hour of demand.
Pakistan therefore needs a broader definition of energy security. It means domestic generation where possible, diversified import routes where necessary, strategic stocks, a more flexible grid and enough storage to survive temporary disruption without reorganising the economy around it.
The urgency is visible outside Pakistan as well. Hormuz traffic remains far below normal levels, and on Thursday, only four commodity vessels crossed the strait, compared with a 10-day average of 16.
At the end of the day, the government may not control that traffic, yet it can still decide how exposed Pakistan remains to it.
