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Pakistan to import LNG from Qatar
ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to import 500 million cubic feet of LNG per day (mmcfd) from Qatar to cope with the endemic energy crisis and to this effect it will also provide sovereign guarantees to the relevant authorities in Qatar.
The government will send a four-member experts team to Qatar next Sunday to negotiate the LNG price, Dr Asim Hussain, federal minister for petroleum and natural resources, told a group of journalists after holding a meeting of the special committee constituted by Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on gas load management plan.
After the failure of the private companies to import LNG, the government has sprung into action in view of the worsening energy crisis, the sources in the ministry of petroleum and natural resources told The News.
The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) had earlier finalised, the sources said, three companies including Global Energy International, Gas Port and Engro for import of LNG. The Global Energy (GE) had given the undertaking to Ogra that it would import the LNG by the second quarter of the current year 2012 and Engro and Progas by second quarter of 2013.
However, the GE had started seeking more relaxations, which are against the rules of business earlier set by Ogra. The GE had asked for the sovereign guarantees, waiver of the third party access rules and more time up till November 2012.
The Ogra extended the time on the directives of the ministry, but the said company seems not inclined to import LNG, which is why the minister air-dashed to Qatar where he gave an undertaking that the Pakistan government would provide sovereign guarantees to Qatar against the import of 500 mmcfd LNG
According to the minister Qatar had earlier refused to provide LNG to Pakistan without sovereign guarantees. He said the country is currently facing 1.8 billion cubic feet of gas shortfall per day.
The import of LNG will not negate the 2011 LNG policy under which the government is bound not to provide any sovereign guarantee to the private company importing LNG into Pakistan. The minister said that about 800 mmcfd of gas will be injected in the system by June this year. Referring to the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project, the minister said the work on the project has been expedited and to this effect 16 pre-qualified companies have been issued tender documents.
Pakistan to import LNG from Qatar
ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to import 500 million cubic feet of LNG per day (mmcfd) from Qatar to cope with the endemic energy crisis and to this effect it will also provide sovereign guarantees to the relevant authorities in Qatar.
The government will send a four-member experts team to Qatar next Sunday to negotiate the LNG price, Dr Asim Hussain, federal minister for petroleum and natural resources, told a group of journalists after holding a meeting of the special committee constituted by Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on gas load management plan.
After the failure of the private companies to import LNG, the government has sprung into action in view of the worsening energy crisis, the sources in the ministry of petroleum and natural resources told The News.
The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) had earlier finalised, the sources said, three companies including Global Energy International, Gas Port and Engro for import of LNG. The Global Energy (GE) had given the undertaking to Ogra that it would import the LNG by the second quarter of the current year 2012 and Engro and Progas by second quarter of 2013.
However, the GE had started seeking more relaxations, which are against the rules of business earlier set by Ogra. The GE had asked for the sovereign guarantees, waiver of the third party access rules and more time up till November 2012.
The Ogra extended the time on the directives of the ministry, but the said company seems not inclined to import LNG, which is why the minister air-dashed to Qatar where he gave an undertaking that the Pakistan government would provide sovereign guarantees to Qatar against the import of 500 mmcfd LNG
According to the minister Qatar had earlier refused to provide LNG to Pakistan without sovereign guarantees. He said the country is currently facing 1.8 billion cubic feet of gas shortfall per day.
The import of LNG will not negate the 2011 LNG policy under which the government is bound not to provide any sovereign guarantee to the private company importing LNG into Pakistan. The minister said that about 800 mmcfd of gas will be injected in the system by June this year. Referring to the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project, the minister said the work on the project has been expedited and to this effect 16 pre-qualified companies have been issued tender documents.
Pakistan to import LNG from Qatar