Pakistan, China Sign Gwadar-Nawabshah Gas Pipeline Construction Deal

Pakistan and China have inked a preliminary agreement to build the 700 kilometer Gwadar to Nawabshah gas pipeline.

The pipeline will cost $1.35 billion to build. Price Negotiation Committee (PNC) has finalised the cost of the project, Pakistani newspaper The News reported Saturday.

The agreement was initialised on Thursday by Pakistan’s Inter-State Gas System (ISGS) and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).  China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau (CPP), a CNPC group company, will be building the pipeline. CPP will also construct the LNG terminal at Gwadar. The terminal will have a capacity of 500 mmcfd and would be ultimately connected to the Gwadar-Nawabshah pipeline. 

“We are now in the process of making summary for ECC approval and once the approval is accorded, the ISGS and CNPC would formally sign the agreement and after which the construction work would kick off. The pipeline will be constructed and commissioned by December 2017,” Pakistani oil minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said, The News reported.

The project will be constructed with 85 percent financing from Chinese company and 15 percent from government of Pakistan.

Pakistan plans to extend the Gwadar-Nawabshah pipeline to the Iranian border as part of IP gas line.