VOA: Pakistan Hopes to Benefit from Iran Deal, With Chinese Help

Pakistan has been planning to build a pipeline to import natural gas from Iran for years, but work on the proposed Iran-Pakistan pipeline stalled due to international economic sanctions on Iran in response to its nuclear development program.
 
Pakistan has a crippling energy shortage.  Rolling blackouts of several hours a day are the norm in urban and rural areas.  As the weather heats up and demand for electricity increases, the situation gets worse.  Industrial and agricultural production suffer.
 
The solution to some of these problems lies in importing more natural gas, according to Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Pakistan’s minister for petroleum and natural resources. 

“Gas is 50 percent of Pakistan’s total energy needs today,” he said. MORE