Pakistan to start receiving LNG within 60 days: Musadik

Prime Minister’s spokesman Dr Musadik Malik has said the imported Liquefied Natural Gas from Qatar would be supplied to industries, factories, and Compressed Natural Gas stations to meet the energy shortage.

The agreement was signed on the first day of two-day visit to Qatar by Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The annual contract quantity for 2016 has been agreed at a prorate of 2.25 metric tonne while the price for each cargo has been agreed at 13.37 per cent of Brent.

Terming the deal as a “game changer” for Pakistan, Abbasi told the media that it would see Qatar export 3.75 million tonnes of LNG to the energy-starved country. He said the deal would help the country get out of its energy crisis and provide 35 million tons of LNG. In August 2014, the ECC constituted LNG Price Negotiation Committee (PNC) comprising Secretary Petroleum as Chairman, Representatives of Finance Division, Water and Power and BOI, Managing Director SNGPL, Managing Director SSGCL, Managing Director PSO and Managing Director ISGSL (Secretary Committee).

Similarly, fertilizer plants would also be supplied LNG which would help reduce import of the commodity. The government has signed the import deal to minimise the gap, official sources at Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources said. A price review is permitted 10 years after the start of supply. This represents around 20 percent of the country’s gas requirements.

The two sides would also exchange views on regional and worldwide issues of mutual interest.

He further said the agreement signed with Qatar was being recognised globally as a cost-effective and reasonable deal. After delivering the commissioning cargo in April previous year, we are delighted that our discussions with PSO regarding a long term agreement have come to fruition.

“This is a very flexible agreement under which it is expected that Pakistan would import LNG worth $1 billion in the first year of the agreement”, he added.

PQA charges are presently around $750,000.

The government said it had also carried out a price comparison of all long-term gas import options, including previous LNG import attempts at indicative Brent price of $40 per barrel, suggesting that LNG import from Qatar would be the lowest.

Bear Head LNG Corporation’s Project Director John Godbold said that prompt action is a tribute to the productive and open pre-filing discussions with DOE, coordination between the USA and Canadian governments, and Bear Head’s submittal of an extremely robust application, which included many relevant studies.