KARACHI: Describing it a mega scam to con out the public of around $180 million or Rs18 billion per year, All-Pakistan CNG Association and Karachi Transport Ittehad threatened protest and sit-in at the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) head office if the government does not withdraw the decision to import LNG.
Addressing a press conference, All-Pakistan CNG Association Sindh chairman Shabbir H Sulemanjee, and Karachi Transport Ittehad President Irshad Bukhari declared that they would launched their protest in two phases to voice their resentment against the proposed import of LNG.
Sulemanjee said that they would a sit-in at SSGC head office in the first phase and if the government remained adamant to its decision, both the associations planned to go on strike for an indefinite period. He alleged that the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources through a hurriedly-drafted summary for the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), had managed to benefit a particular business group.
On July 18, the ECC had approved the summary for importing LNG from Qatar by using Engro’s existing terminal at Port Qasim.
“The LNG will be procured from Conoco Phillips (CP), and not from Qatar on a government-to-government basis, as is being falsely claimed,” said Sulemanjee. “The so-called government-to-government deal with Qatar will be through the CP, a private US energy company. So why lie to the nation that the deal is with the state of Qatar?”
Substantiating his claim, Sulemajee said the base cost of LNG from CP was $16.99/mmbtu (million British thermal unit) but an additional cost of about $2.50/mmbtu will be paid to Engro, resulting in an inflated LNG cost of $19.49/mmbtu as compared to the price of $17.707/mmbtu in the open market. “This is clearly a mega scam to rob the people of Pakistan of around $180 million or Rs18 billion per year,” he said. “However, the most damaging part of the deal was that CP/Qatari proposal did not allow any change in the price of LNG over the 20-year duration of the contract when prices were expected to fall down sharply in five to seven years.”
