Gazprom Talks LNG with Pakistan

    05 February 2016
Gazprom Chairman Alexey Miller meets Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Pakistan’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources.

The leaders discussed areas of cooperation, particularly addressing the possibility of Russian LNG supplies to Pakistan and Gazprom’s participation in hydrocarbon exploration and production projects in the country.

Pakistan’s economy has continued to struggle with underemployment, slow economic growth, and high inflation. Expensive energy sources, circular debt, and insufficient transmission and distribution systems have caused a major energy crisis. According to the Asian Development Bank, prolonged power shortages have cut GDP by about two percent. Pakistan’s government has indicated that addressing the energy crisis is a top priority.

Being the sixth-largest in Asia-Pacific (after Australia, China, Indonesia, India and Malaysia), Pakistan’s recoverable natural gas reserves amount to 570 billion cubic meters.
In 2014 Pakistan produced 42 billion cubic meters of natural gas. The total volume of gas produced in the country is consumed domestically.

The main natural gas producers in Pakistan are the state-run companies Oil and Gas Development Corporation (OGDCL) and Pakistan Petroleum Ltd. (PPL).

In July 2014, the Pakistani government approved the construction of three LNG terminals, including the Engro Elengy LNG Terminal. The first shipments of LNG began to arrive at the terminal in July 2015, via a floating, storage and regasification unit (FSRU).

China has agreed to fund and build a natural gas pipeline from Iran to Pakistan following the end of international economic sanctions imposed against Iran as a result of its nuclear program.

Source: http://www.maritime-executive.com/