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Pakistan’s first private LNG terminal to be operational by 2018

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News Stories Posted by ARY News Digital Team

ISLAMABAD: The first private sector Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal, having a capacity of 1,000 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) gas, is expected to be completed by 2018.

On completion the project will account for around 10 percent of the primary energy supplies of the country, and will be equivalent of 20 percent of the current domestic natural gas production.

“It will re-gasify up to 750 mmfcd gas per day as base-load,” according to a press statement issued by the Ministry of Finance.

Federal Minister for Finance, Senator Ishaq Dar on Thursday chaired a meeting with senior executives, representing the multinational consortium, which is developing the project in Pakistan.

The consortium comprises leading multinational energy companies including Qatar Petroleum, ExxonMobil, Total, Mitsubishi Corp and Hoegh LNG.

Chairman and CEO of Global Energy Infrastructure Limited (GEIL), with which the consortium is partnering on the project, also participated in the meeting.

The meeting was attended by Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resource Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, and Chairman Board of Investment (BOI) Dr. Miftah Ismail.

Finance Minister said that the government of Pakistan welcomes and appreciates the efforts of the consortium to develop this project.

He said the participation of leading multinational energy companies demonstrates the confidence of investors in the economic turnaround of Pakistan and the investor-friendly policies of the government.

He highlighted the recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) according to which Pakistan is projected to become the 20th largest economy by 2030 and the 16th largest economy by 2050.

He said that Pakistan has achieved macroeconomic stability within three years, contrary to predictions from various quarters that it would default by 2014 and would need six years to attain macroeconomic stability.

He said that foreign exchange reserves recently reached an all-time high providing five months of import cover, and that GDP growth was at eight year high of 4.7 percent in fiscal year 2016.

The finance minister said that the government was actively working on projects to add over 10,000 MW of electricity to the system in the short term and a further 15,000 MW beyond 2018.

He stated the government was now focused on achieving higher, sustainable and inclusive economic growth, and is targeting GDP growth of over 5 percent in the current fiscal year.

Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources said that this project was completely a private-to-private venture, with no government financing, which makes the project the first of its kind in Pakistan.

He further stated that the LNG Supply Agreements relating to project have also been executed without the involvement of the Government of Pakistan, and the ministry will extend all requisite policy and regulatory support for the project.

Chairman BOI, who is also Chairman of Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), said that BOI and SSGC will extend full cooperation to the consortium for the successful implementation of the project.

Senior executives representing the consortium acknowledged the government’s achievements to stabilise the economy and putting it on the path to growth.

They stated that the project place no burdens on the government. They appreciated the investor friendly policies which enabled this project to materialize which would have been very difficult to envisage a few years ago.

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