Pakistan GasPort Plans LNG Terminal Listing, Double Capacity

Pakistan GasPort Ltd., which won a government contract to build the country’s second liquefied natural

gas terminal, plans to list the project in two years and double capacity, taking advantage of a global glut,

according to Chief Executive Officer Iqbal Ahmed.

The terminal which costs $135 million will initially handle 600 million cubic feet a day at Karachi’s Port

Qasim, said Ahmed. GasPort plans to add another terminal to double capacity by 2018 and will be

followed by the construction of a 500 megawatt power plant. GasPort was awarded the contract by the

state-owned Pakistan LNG Terminals Ltd. after offering the lowest bid, Petroleum Minister Shahid

Khaqan Abbasi, said by phone on Wednesday.

South Asia’s second largest economy became one of the new buyers of the super chilled fuel last year

after a global price slump and plans to use it as a fuel, along with coal, to add new power plants to end

an energy crisis by 2018. The GasPort terminal will be supplying gas to 3,600 megawatts of power plants

being established by the government and will be built in 12 months after the deal is signed, Ahmed said

before the agreement.

“There are unlimited opportunities for big players in the energy sector,” Ahmed said in a phone

interview from Lahore. “There are very few places in the world where you have a guaranteed” buyer, he

said.

The 15-year contract between Pakistan LNG Terminals and GasPort is most likely to be signed next week

after approval from the the country’s top decision-making body, the Economic Coordination Committee,

Abbasi said.

The company will list the terminal after completing a year of operations around October 2018, according

to Ahmed.

The company plans to raise 60 percent of the capital through debt for the first terminal with Arif Habib

Ltd. appointed as financial advisers, he said. Project partners Fauji Oil Terminal and Distribution Co. will

separately invest $41.5 million for the jetty and pipeline.

Pakistan wants to increase LNG import to 4.5 million tons, Petroleum Minister Abbasi said said in a

March interview. The government is speaking with France’s Engie SA, Italy’s ENI SpA, Russia, United Arab

Emirates, Oman and Malaysia, Abbasi said separately last month.

NGS INDIA