Second Qatar LNG shipment to arrive on 8th

The second liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipment from Qatar, under the recent government-to-government sale purchase agreement between Pakistan and Qatar, would arrive at Port Qasim, Karachi, on March 8.

The first ship carrying approximately 1,41,000 cubic meters LNG had docked on Tuesday at the Elengy LNG terminal at Port Qasim, from where the imported gas is being injected in the system of Sui Southern Gas Company for onward supply.

“The LNG import is the only cheapest and instant remedy for the energy-starved Pakistan as its major gas reserves are depleting fast and the supply-demand gap is widening,” official sources in the ministry of petroleum and natural resources.

Nowadays, they said, the LNG was being considered essential part of energy-mix needs of world’s emerging economies, adding that world was turning towards it. They said global and emerging economies such as China, Korea, Japan, India, Thailand, Indonesia, European Union and Brazil were ensuring that LNG should remain part of their energy-mix requirements.

They said Japan was importing 80 million tonnes of LNG every year (MTPA) and India 15 MTPA due to the commodity’s cheap price and efficiency as compared to other fuel. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government, the sources said, took a bold and practicable step which the previous governments could not take for importing LNG for meeting the energy needs of power generation and industrial sectors.

Pakistan, they said, signed a 15-year agreement with Qatar to import up to 3.75 million tonnes of LNG a year which was being highly appreciated by business community. The country’s total gas production is around 4 bcfd (billion cubic feet per day) against the demand of 6 bcfd, which shows approximately two bcfd gap between demand and supply of the commodity.