Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Petroleum Natural Resources, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, has said that Pakistan intends to import 400 million ft3/day of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar from 1 November 2014.
Discussions over the future supply of LNG will be held next week between Qatar Gas Company and Pakistan State Oil (PSO). Although so far a price has not been discussed, next week's meeting will include discussions on this issue. On 7 December, Abbasi met with a Qatari counterpart in Doha, who requested that Pakistan build an LNG import terminal in order to ensure supply from Qatar.
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 as of November next year.
The minister said that if LNG imports from Qatar proved to be too costly, the Government would look to other exporting nations for the supply of LNG.
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.
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