ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Russia are inching closer with each passing day and the bilateral relations between the two cold war rivals are strengthening with the passage of time.
The geo political and geo strategic dynamics in the region and Indian strategic tilt towards US has paved the way for Pakistan Russia ties.
Pakistan is striving to forge closer ties with Russia since India has abandoned Moscow and gone into the US camp.
“North South gas pipeline, which will run from Karachi to Lahore, will be a big step to bring the two countries closer,” the official remarked and termed the North-South pipeline first major Russian investment in Pakistan after decades.
Earlier, Russia had assisted Pakistan’s largest hydrocarbon explorer, Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC), in the search for energy resources.
In addition to the pipeline contract, Pakistan also plans to import LNG from Russia in a government-to-government arrangement.
Russia is a big exporter of gas to Europe, but the US is lobbying to drive away Moscow from this market. Washington’s backing of the Turkmenistan- Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (Tapi) gas pipeline project is also part of that move to capture energy markets of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
Russia gets major supplies of gas from Turkmenistan and exports to Europe.
“Russian investment in the LNG pipeline will open more avenues of capital injection into the energy sector,” the official said, adding Moscow was also interested in oil and gas exploration in Pakistan.
Power production is another area where Moscow has expressed its interest and it has even offered electricity export to Pakistan.
Russia will build the North-South gas pipeline and charge a tolling fee for LNG supply from Karachi to Lahore.
“The pipeline deal with Russia is called ideal due to the lowest rate for gas transmission and Russia will also pour capital into building the pipeline,” the official said.