Power Minister Announces End of Loadshedding After April Torture

Power Minister Awais Leghari announced on Friday that the recent spell of electricity load-shedding has officially ended following the arrival of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipment in Pakistan.

In a televised statement, the minister said the power outages over the past month were triggered by a temporary gas shortage that arose due to the US-Iran situation.

He added that the crisis was not due to any failure in the country’s power infrastructure or management.

Leghari recalled that consumers experienced peak outages of up to five hours on April 13 and 14, which later increased to around seven hours on April 15 and 16. He said the situation gradually improved to near zero loadshedding for several days, and later limited to 2–2.5 hours daily until April 29.

The minister said expensive gas purchases from the spot market were also made to manage the shortfall, while confirming that the first LNG cargo had arrived in Pakistan a day earlier.

Earlier, Pakistan LNG Limited had secured LNG cargo bids priced between $17.997 and $18.88 per million British thermal units, with deliveries scheduled between late April and early May.

Leghari assured that no further load-shedding is planned and expressed confidence that the transmission system will handle peak summer demand.