KARACHI: The floating storage re-gasification unit (FSRU) Exquisite carrying 148 million cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) has docked at the Engro Elengy Terminal, Port Qasim on Thursday.
Shaikh Imran-ul-Haq, CEO of Engro Elengy said they would start pumping the gas into SSGC’s system by Friday noon.
It was known that this supply is not the part of LNG deal with Qatar, it has been procured by PSO on an ad hoc arrangement from Qatar Gas.
The commodity reaching Pakistan is equivalent to 3000 mmcfd, and would be injected into the system over the next 15 days, as per the government’s agreement with Engro Elengy.
However, the rate at which the commodity was procured is still unknown. Besides, there is still uncertainty about the arrival of next supply.
Agha Jan Akhtar, Chairman Port Qasim Authority, ruled out all the propaganda and said that the FSRU comfortably docked the terminal. He said the authority completed the infrastructure in a record time and now it was up to the ministry of petroleum to manage the supply of LNG to the terminal.
Elengy, a subsidiary of Engro, is dealing the project, which has a total cost of $133.3 million. Engro financed construction of jetty, a 24-kilometre long pipeline, and got the lease of FSRU on its own. Besides, the Asian Development Bank loan, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and local banks will provide $20 million and $ 50 million, respectively. The remaining $33.3 million has come in as equity investment.
Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said the power generation cost through LNG will reduce by 40 percent as compared to diesel.
“Pakistan heavily relies on its import of furnace oil and diesel to fuel power stations and both fuels are relatively expensive as compared to LNG, which is cheaper and a more efficient alternative. LNG is also cleaner and considered environment-friendly,” said Abbasi.
He added that LNG will initially be provided to Kot Addu Power Company (Kapco) and four power plants in Punjab for power generation. Abbasi also said that Pakistan urgently needs to utilise its existing power generation to capacity, while reducing its reliance on costly, imported diesel fuel for electricity generation.
Re-gasification of LNG will allow generation facilities to reach their maximum potential, using a cleaner and more efficient fuel, and will support the country’s push for greater energy security and diversification.
The converted fuel will help the government make an estimated savings of about $1.0 billion per annum on its current fuel import bill of nearly $15 billion.