LNG intake for Pakistan

Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Petroleum Natural Resources, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, has revealed that the country expects to import 400 million ft³/day of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar from 1 November 2014.

Next week, discussions over the future supply of LNG will be held between Qatar Gas Company and Pakistan State Oil (PSO), although so far a price has not been discussed. On 7 December, Abbasi met with a Qatari counterpart in Doha, who stated that Pakistan must build an LNG import terminal to ensure supply from Qatar.

EVTL contract

Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) is currently negotiating a US$ 2 billion service tooling agreement with Engro Vopak Terminal Limited (EVTL). If agreed, this contract would see the terminal import LNG for up to 15 years. The EVTL terminal will have an import capacity of 690 million ft³/day, and will be operational from November next year.

The Minister said that if LNG imports from Qatar proved to be too expensive, the Pakistani government would look to other exporting nations for the supply of LNG. During a trip to the US, Abbasi visited an exporting plant that will commence operations from 2016, exporting LNG to India, China and Japan by 2018.

At present, demand for gas in Pakistan outstrips supply by 50%: demand stands at 8 billion ft³/d, while production is only 4 billion ft³/d.

After providing gas to the domestic sector in Punjab, catering for the industrial sector will be the next priority.

Edited from various sources by Ted Monroe

Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/lng-shipping/13122013/pakistan_plans_to_develop_lng_import_infrastructure_to_tackle_gas_shortage/