Intertwined: energy and national security

If there is a single lesson of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war for us, it is that self-reliance in energy should become Pakistan’s number one goal from this point forward. This eight-month yet unfinished war will keep the international energy trade severely disrupted in the foreseeable future. The foremost objective of western countries is to take every punitive action that blocks Russia’s crude oil and gas exports. On the one hand, they have imposed a price cap on Russia’s crude oil exports, while on the other, Europe is trying to replace its gas imports from Russia with other international sources of supply. The ongoing energy trade war has disrupted the entire world economy, with less developed countries of Asia and Africa facing the brunt. We are left at the mercy of the LNG suppliers who are not too willing to sell it to us even at exorbitantly high rates, thus making a massive shortage in the coming winter nearly certain.