Business

Local company signs LNG agreement with Chinese firm

CNCEC will design, construct and finance offshore LNG terminal in Pakistan

Our Correspondent April 23, 2022

In Pakistan, consumption of imported gas has remained low mainly due to the gas import contract at higher price. PHOTO: REUTERS

ISLAMABAD:

The transition to liquefied natural gas (LNG) from diesel and oil is the correct way forward for Pakistan in terms of making the shift to renewables, remarked Daewoo Gas Chief Executive Officer Shahid Karim.

He was speaking during a ceremony held to mark the signing of a Master EPCF (engineering, procurement, construction and finance) contract between Daewoo Gas and China National Chemical Engineering Company (CNCEC).

“We look forward to the continued cooperation of the government of Pakistan to help us achieve the goal of delivering LNG to Pakistan’s industrial and domestic consumers at the earliest,” he said.

Under the contract, CNCEC would design, construct and finance an offshore LNG terminal with topside equipment to enable LNG filling into ISO containers (intermodal containers) for use in Pakistan.

The specialised LNG containers would be moved by trucks all over Pakistan, where LNG would be re-gasified at client sites, according to a statement.

“At its peak, Daewoo Gas’ terminal will handle 10,000 tons of LNG per day, improve Pakistan’s energy supply, create thousands of jobs nationally and reduce carbon emissions,” the statement added.

The total foreign investment in this project including the terminal, facilities, LNG logistics and supply infrastructure was estimated to be around $300 million.

“The project is based on the innovative design of transporting LNG on trucks and bowsers loaded with ISO tanks rather than through the pipeline system.”

“This technology is referred to as ‘Virtual LNG’ (VLNG) pipeline and is common in China,” the statement said.

Detailing about the plan, Karim mentioned that the vision was to operationalise the terminal within a year – before summer 2023 – at Pakistan’s LNG zone in the Arabian Sea.

He voiced hope that the project would not only help meet the energy needs of Pakistan, but would also contribute towards upgrading the natural gas industry in the country with innovative technology.

The project would develop a gas supply-chain in parallel to the fixed pipeline supply network “at no risk or cost to the government of Pakistan”, he emphasised.

“Facilitating re-gasification at their sites, all customers nationwide will be supplied gas through specialised LNG tanker trucks,” he noted.

He was of the view that the project would augment the government’s efforts to optimise “gas supply to far-flung areas that are not connected to the national gas transmission network”.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 23^rd, 2022.

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