Ongoing energy projects in Pakistan
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ISLAMABAD, Dec 4 (APP): The rising sun of 2018 will witness Pakistan as a country self-sufficient in energy.
Moreover, the setting sun of 2017 will see vanishing the crippling legacy of the previous years when slowly and gradually energy shortages started to hit the country.
Now with concerted efforts of the present government,
the decades old projects - Iran-Pakistan (IP),
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipelines and
import of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) are almost in practical
phase. This year has already seen LNG's import, while work on
TAPI began in December last year. Similarly, the IP project will
hopefully commence next year after amendment in the gas
sale-purchase agreement with Iran.
With extensive drilling by oil and gas E&P companies that resulted in over 90 new discoveries in just three years, the much-talked about IP, TAPI and LNG projects are considered the thirst-quenching streams for
the energy starved nation.
Secretary Ministry of Petroleum and Natural
Resources said, "The present government, was eyeing on
imported gas besides accelerating local oil and gas exploration
and production (E&P) activities to meet the ever-growing energy
needs in the country.
Commenting on Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project, a senior official of the Ministry told APP that the government was in the process of
negotiating amendments in the Gas Sale Purchase Agreement (GSPA)
with Iran for early implementation of the much-delayed project,
conceived in mid-1950s.
"A draft amendment has been shared with Iran, and it
has agreed to negotiate on it along with some other amendments in
the GSPA, following which construction work on the pipeline is
expected to commence soon in collaboration with China," the
sources aware of the project updates said.
Sharing details of the project, the sources said
Inter-Governmental Framework Declaration was signed between the
two countries on May 24, 2009, while GSPA had been agreed on June
2009.
Subsequently, Pakistan issued sovereign guarantee on
May 28, 2010. The project consultant was appointed on April 11,
2011, while the design, feasibility, route survey and other
formalities of the project were completed on September 8, 2012.
The 56-inch diameter pipeline will start from South
Pars gas field in Iran and end at Nawabshah, covering a distance
of around 1,931 km with 1,150 km portion in Iran and 781 km in
Pakistan. The 750 mmcfd gas flow in the IP pipeline is projected
to help generate around 4,000 MW electricity also, along with
creating job opportunities in backward areas of Balochistan and
Sindh, the sources said.
Commenting on TAPI project, the sources said Prime
Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif along with other regional leaders
performed the groundbreaking of the
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline
project in Turkmenistan in December last.
The groundbreaking ceremony took place near the city
of Mary in the southeastern part of the central Asian country,
close to the giant Galkynysh gas field which is meant to provide
gas for the 1,814-kilometre (1,127-mile) link.
The $10 billion pipeline, from Turkmenistan via
Herat, Kandhar, Chaman, Quetta and Dera Gazi Khan to Multan and
onwards to India, is expected to be operational by 2019.
A state-owned company of Turkmenistan is the
consortium for the TAPI and overseeing coordination in the
construction, financing, ownership and operation of the project.
As per the agreement, it was prerequisite for
Pakistan, India and Afghanistan to have five per cent shares each
in the project. Turkmengaz, leader of the consortium, would have
51 per cent shares, with the rest marked for partner countries
It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan is
already working on laying a 42-inch diameter 700-kilometer gas
pipeline from Gwadar to Nawabshah, and a 1122-kilometer
north-south (Karchi-Lahore) gas pipeline that can be used for
supply of the both regassified LNG and imported gas under IP and
TAPI.
On LNG import, the official said, this year
Pakistan signed a 15 year agreement with Qatar to import up to
3.75 million tonnes of LNG a year, which was being highly
appreciated by the business community as the previous governments
had been reluctant to take any practical step in this regard.
After arrival of LNG, industries, gas-based power
units, CNG sector, fertilizer plants and especially domestic
consumers started receiving uninterrupted supply, which is not
less than of any miracle by any mean.
A LNG-terminal is already operational at the Port
Qasim, while two more each at Gwadar and Karachi are also being
set up on priority to handle increased cargoes of the imported
commodity for onward injection in the transmission network of gas
companies - Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited and Sui Southern
Gas Company Limited.
With the present government firmly resolved and
making all-out efforts to bring these projects to maximum
fruition, the sources voiced high hopes that gas shortfall
problem would be solved to maximum extent within remaining period
of the government.
Moreover, the setting sun of 2017 will see vanishing the crippling legacy of the previous years when slowly and gradually energy shortages started to hit the country.
Now with concerted efforts of the present government,
the decades old projects - Iran-Pakistan (IP),
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipelines and
import of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) are almost in practical
phase. This year has already seen LNG's import, while work on
TAPI began in December last year. Similarly, the IP project will
hopefully commence next year after amendment in the gas
sale-purchase agreement with Iran.
With extensive drilling by oil and gas E&P companies that resulted in over 90 new discoveries in just three years, the much-talked about IP, TAPI and LNG projects are considered the thirst-quenching streams for
the energy starved nation.
Secretary Ministry of Petroleum and Natural
Resources said, "The present government, was eyeing on
imported gas besides accelerating local oil and gas exploration
and production (E&P) activities to meet the ever-growing energy
needs in the country.
Commenting on Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project, a senior official of the Ministry told APP that the government was in the process of
negotiating amendments in the Gas Sale Purchase Agreement (GSPA)
with Iran for early implementation of the much-delayed project,
conceived in mid-1950s.
"A draft amendment has been shared with Iran, and it
has agreed to negotiate on it along with some other amendments in
the GSPA, following which construction work on the pipeline is
expected to commence soon in collaboration with China," the
sources aware of the project updates said.
Sharing details of the project, the sources said
Inter-Governmental Framework Declaration was signed between the
two countries on May 24, 2009, while GSPA had been agreed on June
2009.
Subsequently, Pakistan issued sovereign guarantee on
May 28, 2010. The project consultant was appointed on April 11,
2011, while the design, feasibility, route survey and other
formalities of the project were completed on September 8, 2012.
The 56-inch diameter pipeline will start from South
Pars gas field in Iran and end at Nawabshah, covering a distance
of around 1,931 km with 1,150 km portion in Iran and 781 km in
Pakistan. The 750 mmcfd gas flow in the IP pipeline is projected
to help generate around 4,000 MW electricity also, along with
creating job opportunities in backward areas of Balochistan and
Sindh, the sources said.
Commenting on TAPI project, the sources said Prime
Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif along with other regional leaders
performed the groundbreaking of the
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline
project in Turkmenistan in December last.
The groundbreaking ceremony took place near the city
of Mary in the southeastern part of the central Asian country,
close to the giant Galkynysh gas field which is meant to provide
gas for the 1,814-kilometre (1,127-mile) link.
The $10 billion pipeline, from Turkmenistan via
Herat, Kandhar, Chaman, Quetta and Dera Gazi Khan to Multan and
onwards to India, is expected to be operational by 2019.
A state-owned company of Turkmenistan is the
consortium for the TAPI and overseeing coordination in the
construction, financing, ownership and operation of the project.
As per the agreement, it was prerequisite for
Pakistan, India and Afghanistan to have five per cent shares each
in the project. Turkmengaz, leader of the consortium, would have
51 per cent shares, with the rest marked for partner countries
It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan is
already working on laying a 42-inch diameter 700-kilometer gas
pipeline from Gwadar to Nawabshah, and a 1122-kilometer
north-south (Karchi-Lahore) gas pipeline that can be used for
supply of the both regassified LNG and imported gas under IP and
TAPI.
On LNG import, the official said, this year
Pakistan signed a 15 year agreement with Qatar to import up to
3.75 million tonnes of LNG a year, which was being highly
appreciated by the business community as the previous governments
had been reluctant to take any practical step in this regard.
After arrival of LNG, industries, gas-based power
units, CNG sector, fertilizer plants and especially domestic
consumers started receiving uninterrupted supply, which is not
less than of any miracle by any mean.
A LNG-terminal is already operational at the Port
Qasim, while two more each at Gwadar and Karachi are also being
set up on priority to handle increased cargoes of the imported
commodity for onward injection in the transmission network of gas
companies - Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited and Sui Southern
Gas Company Limited.
With the present government firmly resolved and
making all-out efforts to bring these projects to maximum
fruition, the sources voiced high hopes that gas shortfall
problem would be solved to maximum extent within remaining period
of the government.
