Pakistan gets its first LNG Terminal

The country’s first Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal is to materialise in the coming 12 months, while the commencement of the project will take place in the middle of this month at its allocated location in Chan Waddo Creek at Port Qasim.
This was stated by Granada Group of Companies President & CEO Mohsin M. Siddiqui in an exclusive interview with Profit. He informed that this would be the country’s first approved private sector project and recently the Minister for Petroleum Dr. Asim Hussain met with him and asked him to reactivate the project. With the help of local industrialists from all leading sectors including textile, fertiliser, IPPs, etc, we are to start this project for long-term interests of the country’s economic viability, he added.
The Granada project is sponsored by a consortium of Pakistani industries and Independent Power Producers, who will be financing the construction of the LNG Terminal and all related infrastructure and executing their own LNG purchase contracts with reputable LNG suppliers combining a mix of long term contracts and spot purchases. The imported LNG, initially at 3.5 mm tonnes per year will be consumed by the Consortium members themselves in their industries and power plants located in Upper Punjab.
“It is important to note here that contrary to a lot of claims by a number of new-comers, our project is the only one where systematic and detailed studies have been carried out and completed over a period of more than two years with a verifiable investment of up to $5 million,” he said. The studies in this regard have been carried out and concluded by some of the most reputable contractors known for design and construction of LNG Terminals internationally such as SOGREAH of France, SBM Offshore N.V. Monaco and for construction of port facilities in Pakistan such as Techno-Consult, Pakistan and Soilmat Engineers, Pakistan.
As a result of all studies conducted, specifications for project design and construction are available for implementation and the project is ready to enter the Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) phase within three months, with expected commissioning of the project by the end of second quarter in 2012. This Project is far advanced towards implementation and commissioning when compared to any other LNG Terminal Project in Pakistan at this time, he claimed.
This project will allow the government and energy consumers to acquire the cleanest, cheapest and most environmental friendly fuel at the most competitive rates in the most transparent manner without getting blackmailed to sign up for the fuel from suppliers who will captivate consumers through provision of their LNG imports. Terminals and infrastructure allowing handling and processing of their own LNG supplies for long terms exploit consumers pitilessly by linking the long term price of gas with oil, he said.
Moreover, the ownership and investment for the project is open to all reputable Pakistani investors and companies including the Sui Southern and Northern Gas Companies, and no single investor or owner is deriving all benefits from this facility, which will help the country as a whole, he said, adding that this will also provide freedom and independence to all Pakistani consumers in negotiating the best possible prices and terms for LNG from a number of international suppliers through an open competition for both spot and long term supplies.
“Our terminal will be initially sufficient to handle 1 billion scft per day of LNG or 7 mm tonnes of LNG per year. However, the unique modular design of our terminal provides for capacity expansion of to up to 3 billion scft or more in due course without disturbing or adversely affecting the normal operations – depending upon growth of demand in the country. We will be open to allocate 500 mm Scft per day of capacity to any other LNG importer including SSGC or SNGPL, after meeting needs of the Consortium of sponsors that are estimated at approximately 500 mm Scft per day,” he said.
In addition, as a part of the planned infrastructure, there is a plan to install an offshore gas pipeline sufficient to transport 1 billion scft per day of re-gasified gas at a pressure of 600 psi, leading from the offshore terminal to connect with the SSGC transmission line system in Port Qasim, close to the junction near KESC Bin Qasim Power Plant, he said.
He informed that they have carried out many studies at their allocated terminal site for the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) of the Project and that includes soil studies, a water particle analysis, a preliminary bathymetry of the selected location, a study of winds, currents and tides in the channel, a navigation study, determination of the size, type and number of towing and mooring tugs for escorting the delivery vessels and more. He said that a detailed study of Air Vaporisers was also conducted in this regard at a site near Houston in US under similar weather conditions as those prevailing in Port Qasim in order to determine, the size, capacity and number of Air Vaporisers required for the vaporisation of LNG at the terminal.
They would utilise the heat in the atmospheric air for vaporisation of LNG instead of burning valuable two per cent volumes of LNG cargoes in Submersible Combustion Vaporizers (SCV) or circulating large quantities of sea water through Open Rack Vaporisers. This system of vaporisation ensures absolutely zero impact on the environment or the marine life and is the most economical, efficient and environmentally friendly LNG vaporisation system available in the market today, he added.
“Our Terminal design conforms to all international standards laid out by Society of International Gas Tankers and Terminals (SIGTTO) and will be approved by International Class Societies while conforming to all technical and commercial criteria specified by SSGC, OGRA and Port Qasim Authority under the prevailing LNG Policy and Third Party Access Rules,” he said.

PROFILE – The founder of the Group (Granada Group of Companies is based in Houston, Texas, USA) Mohsin M. Siddiqui carries more than 30 years of experience in the design, construction and operation of oil, LPG and LNG Tankers, LNG Re-gasification Vessels and offshore LNG Terminals. While serving as General Superintendent, Engineering and Fleet Management with Kuwait Oil Tanker Co. in Kuwait, he was responsible for the planning, design and implementation of the first LNG Re-gasification vessel in the world in 1984 at Dunkirk, France.
Later, while serving as General Manager, Operations with El Paso Corporation, Houston, Texas (the largest gas pipeline company in the World and one of the largest integrated energy conglomerates in USA) in the year 2000 he was responsible for the conceptualisation and development of the LNG Re-gasification Vessels in United States that were patented by El Paso under the commercial name of Energy Bridge and led to the advent of the first offshore LNG offloading port – “GulfPort” in the Gulf of Mexico, United States in 2003.