Increased LNG Imports to Revive Pakistan's CNG Sector

Pakistan’s CNG industry believes increased imports of LNG would be a catalyst in its revival.

The CNG sector has been badly affected due to shortage of gas. All Pakistan Compressed Natural Gas Association (APCNGA) is finalising modalities with Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) to effectively utilise their network to supply its own imported LNG to CNG stations, Daily Times, a local newspaper, quoted the association leader, Ghiyas Abdullah Paracha as saying.

Paracha also heads the Universal Gas Distribution Company (Pvt.) Limited--the first-ever company to have secured LNG sales and marketing licence from the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), in order to feed the CNG outlets.

Improved LNG supply would gradually improve the number of CNG users, he added.

APCNGA so far signed agreements with 1,351 CNG stations to attain LNG through the gas-companies-distribution system, Daily Times reported.

Pakistan signed its first long term deal earlier this year with Qatar. As per the deal signed in February, Qatargas will supply fuel to Pakistan State Oil (PSO) from 2016-2031. The price for each LNG cargo in a particular month has been agreed at 13.37 percent of Brent where Brent value is average of the preceding three months. Qatargas will supply 3.75 million tons per annum (MTPA) of LNG to PSO. The 15-year long term deal is the largest deal of first quarter 2016, a report by GlobalData suggests. The deal has been estimated to be worth $16 billion.

Switzerland’s Gunvor is also supplying the super chilled fuel to Pakistan.

Earlier this week, reports on the local media suggested that the government is talking LNG import plans with Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC), Petronas and Eni.