April 20:
The cabinet has unilaterally decided to hand the LNG terminal construction contract to EPTL in addition to giving the go ahead to import gas from Qatar after the first LNG terminal has been built in Karachi. If we were to look back five or ten years into the past, LNG would not have been the best available option for Pakistan to reduce the gas shortage. Now, since every other initiative has been abandoned, only LNG can fuel Pakistan’s spluttering dreams of prosperity.
Elengy Terminal Pakistan Limited (ETPL), an auxiliary of Engro Corporation Limited, is expected, by conservative estimates, to complete the terminal in 11 months. The terminal, once built, will be helpful in importing gas from countries other than Qatar to ensure competitive prices, but this will only be possible if all goes according to plan. This is Pakistan’s last-ditch effort to try and do something about the gas shortage, but this should have been kept transparent and free from political influence.
The shortage is expected to continue until the terminal is built, since the government does not seem to have any contingency plans. Our shale gas reserves that lie untapped are likely to stay that way in the years to come, and it seems that our only option in the short run is to import gas from other countries. LNG, when imported, will only make up for around 5% of the shortage in the first year and 10% the year after. How will the remaining deficit be accounted for? The US, a major exporter of LNG, will not be sending its gas our way because no Free Trade Agreement (FTA) has been signed between the two countries. The Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline has been boxed as well.
In other news, the Prime Minister is expected to sign a MoU with Iran for importing 3000 MW of electricity. Let’s hope that the PML-N government holds to this, unlike the last agreement made with Iran on the IP gas pipeline, reportedly abandoned at the behest of a friendly country. Since coming into power, the PML-N has made very astute observations about what is lacking in the energy sector and what needs to be done to fix it. It is high time they get down to it.
Source: http://www.nation.com.pk/editorials/20-Apr-2014/imported-gas?
The cabinet has unilaterally decided to hand the LNG terminal construction contract to EPTL in addition to giving the go ahead to import gas from Qatar after the first LNG terminal has been built in Karachi. If we were to look back five or ten years into the past, LNG would not have been the best available option for Pakistan to reduce the gas shortage. Now, since every other initiative has been abandoned, only LNG can fuel Pakistan’s spluttering dreams of prosperity.
Elengy Terminal Pakistan Limited (ETPL), an auxiliary of Engro Corporation Limited, is expected, by conservative estimates, to complete the terminal in 11 months. The terminal, once built, will be helpful in importing gas from countries other than Qatar to ensure competitive prices, but this will only be possible if all goes according to plan. This is Pakistan’s last-ditch effort to try and do something about the gas shortage, but this should have been kept transparent and free from political influence.
The shortage is expected to continue until the terminal is built, since the government does not seem to have any contingency plans. Our shale gas reserves that lie untapped are likely to stay that way in the years to come, and it seems that our only option in the short run is to import gas from other countries. LNG, when imported, will only make up for around 5% of the shortage in the first year and 10% the year after. How will the remaining deficit be accounted for? The US, a major exporter of LNG, will not be sending its gas our way because no Free Trade Agreement (FTA) has been signed between the two countries. The Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline has been boxed as well.
In other news, the Prime Minister is expected to sign a MoU with Iran for importing 3000 MW of electricity. Let’s hope that the PML-N government holds to this, unlike the last agreement made with Iran on the IP gas pipeline, reportedly abandoned at the behest of a friendly country. Since coming into power, the PML-N has made very astute observations about what is lacking in the energy sector and what needs to be done to fix it. It is high time they get down to it.
Source: http://www.nation.com.pk/editorials/20-Apr-2014/imported-gas?
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