Pakistan Approves LNG IGA with Oman

Pakistan’s federal cabinet February 13 gave the go-ahead to signing of an inter-governmental agreement between Pakistan and Oman for supply of LNG, state owned Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported the same day.

The south Asian nation has become an important buyer in the global LNG market since it began importing the commodity in 2015. Recently, Pakistan received its first LNG cargo from Nigeria at the newly inaugurated floating LNG terminal (floating storage and regasification unit, or FSRU) at Port Qasim. Since then until now, Pakistan has been importing all its LNG from Qatar.

Pakistan’s LNG imports have been steadily growing as the import infrastructure expands. Pakistan's first LNG import venture began in operation in March 2015, with Exquisite on charter from US shipowner Excelerate at Port Qasim, near Karachi, providing the infrastructure. More FSRUs are expected to be developed in coming years as LNG demand increases. During the inauguration of the second FSRU November 20 2017, Trafigura said it will be working on developing another FSRU at Port Qasim, again in cooperation with Pakistan GasPort.

However, there was a setback when Oslo-based shipowner Hoegh LNG officially pulled the plug on its charter agreement with Pakistan's privately-owned would-be LNG importer, Global Energy Infrastructure (GEI); oil company backers also pulled out.