Energy-starved Pakistan is in the final stage of striking a USD 22.5 billion deal with Qatar to import Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) by the end of next month, officials said today.
Pakistan is in the grip of severe energy shortages and has been struggling to find an alternative to fix the problem that has stalled industrial progress and causing headaches to the domestic consumers.
An official at the ministry of petroleum told PTI that negotiations are underway with Qatar for the deal.
"The deal worth USD 22.5 billion is expected to be reached by early March, leading to import of the LNG," he said.
Under the deal, Qatar will provide LNG for 15 years to Pakistan. The country will import three million tones of gas annually at the cost of USD 1.5 billion.
Chief minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, younger brother of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, visited Doha over the weekend and met Emir of Qatar to fast-track the deal, another official said.
Pakistan is already working on setting up necessary infrastructure including construction of LNG terminal at a port in Karachi to handle the imported gas.
It is the first time that Pakistan will import natural gas after its own vast reservoirs depleted, causing shortages.
The imported gas will be used for commercial purposes like supply to the industrial sector and gas stations, while the local production of gas will be used to meet the needs of domestic consumers.
The government expected to fix the chronic electricity shortages by 2018 through the import of LNG which is expected to add more than 3500 MW into the national grid.
