Pakistan LNG Terminals’ board of directors has given approval for signing the deal with Pakistan GasPort, the lowest bidder for setting up the country’s second LNG terminal.
The service agreement now has to be approved by the Economic Coordination Committee in order to go ahead, Pakistan’s The Express Tribune reports.
Pakistan GasPort, in a consortium with Fauji Oil Terminal and Distribution Company (Fotco), intends to set up a terminal with a discharge capacity of up to 625 million cubic feet of LNG per day, based on an FSRU with a storage capacity of at least 170,000 cubic meters. The cost of the terminal is set at US$135 million.
The cost of the terminal to be set up at Port Qasim in Karachi is US$135 million, and it is expected to increase gas availability in the country by up to 15 percent.
The facility will be used to supply gas to power plants with a 3,600 MW production capacity.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Pakistan GasPort’s CEO Iqbal Ahmed added that the company plans to list the project in two years following a full year of operation, and add a second terminal in 2018, doubling the import capacity.
According to the Pakistan GasPort website, the country is facing growing gas shortages and the current gas deficit stands at almost 2,000 mmscfd.
In an earlier report , Pakistan’s minister for petroleum and natural resources, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the country is in talks with Eni of Italy to secure the supply of 750,000 tons of LNG per year on a 15-year deal.
LNG World News Staff