Pakistan Has Imported 33 LNG Cargoes in Last 12 Months

Pakistan has imported 33 LNG cargoes carrying around 103,864,259mmbtu of chilled fuel since July 2015, an official in the oil ministry told Daily Times on Sunday.

The LNG has been imported by state owned Pakistan State Oil through short and long term contracts. The south Asia nation signed its first long term deal earlier this year with Qatar. As per the deal signed in February, Qatargas will supply fuel to Pakistan State Oil from 2016-2031. The price for each LNG cargo in a particular month has been agreed at 13.37 percent of Brent where Brent value is average of the preceding three months. Qatargas will supply 3.75 million tonne per annum (MTPA) of LNG to PSO. The 15-year long term deal is the largest deal of first quarter 2016, a report by GlobalData suggests. The deal has been estimated to be worth $16 billion.

The government is looking to further enhance supply of gas in the domestic market as it continues to work towards building LNG infrastructure. A deal has been signed to build second floating LNG import terminal. 

Pakistan’s first LNG import terminal has been functioning since last March. Engro Corp currently operates Pakistan’s first FSRU through Engro Elengy Terminal Private Limited (EETPL). The LNG terminal, utilising Excelerate's technology, is first of its type for the country and has been built at a cost of $125 million. The terminal has peak capacity for regasification of up to 690 mmcfd of LNG which provides for surplus capacity setup. The terminal received its first shipment in March 2015.

Gas plays a major role in Pakistan’s economy. Natural gas accounts for 35% of all power generation, 23.8% of industrial use, 15.6% fertilizer, 5.4% CNG and 18.1% for households, according to Daily Times.