ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Monday said that Pakistan is currently importing forty-five million cubic feet of LNG and it will be increased to 2.4 billion cubic feet in the next two years.
Addressing a seminar organized by Petroleum Institute of Pakistan (PIP) on the topic of “LNG Market Analysis and Trends”, he said that uninterrupted gas is being supplied to industries and power plants. He said Pakistan is importing LNG from Qatar at cheapest rate in Asia. The Minister said that viability of Pakistan’s energy future is directly linked to LNG, adding that LNG is the only cost-effective solution for Pakistan’s energy problems. He said that government is focusing on indigenous exploration of gas reservoirs to overcome energy crisis.
Khaqan Abbasi said that LNG imports in Pakistan will be linked to oil as we are displacing oil products. He dispelled reasons for criticism since Pakistan would not be at a loss with the deals the government is entering into. He said the government is expecting that private sector should come forward, adding that infrastructure is available to deliver LNG based gas to customers He said that Pakistan energy crisis cannot be resolved without more gas in the system, adding that “We hope OGDCL would explore more local fuel reserves in future.” He said that sanctions had been imposed on Iran-Pakistan pipeline.
The minister said that Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Pipeline (TAPI) is now becoming a reality but it will take four to five years to come in the system. He said that LNG is the cheapest fuel in Pakistan, adding that there is no cheap energy in the world. He said that Pakistan need to look into its need and take decisions accordingly. He said the government negotiated best deal available at that time.
Abbasi said that Pakistan is getting one of the cheapest LNG in the world and there is no doubt about it, adding that “We need to have some long term and short term contracts.”
The seminar was attended by CEO PIP, Mark Thurber, Andrew Kurth LLP USA, Rahat Kamal, Project Director Gasport and Mohsin Siddiqui, Granada Group of Companies Inc USA.
Mark Thurber delivered his presentation on the LNG contracts and negotiation. While Rahat Kamal delivered a lecture on the LNG receiving terminals, design, storage and project structure and Mohsin Siddiqui spoke about the LNG markets trends and regional structures.
