DEPLETING GAS RESERVES

Pakistan natural gas reserves will be depleted by year 2010-2015 before new discoveries are made, petroleum minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan informed the National Assembly. "If consumption of existing resources continues at a fast pace, these reserves will be depleted before new gas reserves can be discovered," he said. The average production of natural gas is 2.02 million cubic feet per day, short by almost 500 million cubic feet.