First LNG ship from Qatar docks at Port Qasim

KARACHI: The first ship under the Pak-Qatar long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) agreement docked on Tuesday at the Elengy LNG terminal at Port Qasim, Karachi, with a load of 150,000 cubic meters of super chilled fuel.

The Q-Flex LNG ship from Qatar is the largest of the 20 LNG ships to have docked at the Elengy LNG terminal and one of the largest ships to have arrived at Port Qasim. The ship is the first LNG ship to have arrived under the 15-year Pak-Qatar agreement. The ship has hooked up with the FSRU Unit at the Elengy terminal and the re-gasification process has started.

Due to the gas shortage in the country, there are a number of user groups that desires the fuel and the lucky ones to receive it are from the fertiliser, power and other industries. The textile and many other industries have approached the Ministry of Petroleum for LNG supply. Three power plants of 1,000MW each based on LNG are being set up in Punjab and smaller LNG-based power plants are also being set up in different parts of the country.

Qatar is the largest producer and supplier of LNG in the world with around 31 percent market share. Qatar also operates a large fleet of over 60 LNG ships. Elengy LNG terminal in Karachi is the latest out of over 17 LNG terminals Qatargas supplies to all over the world. Syed Mohammad Ali, CEO Elengy LNG Terminal at Port Qasim, stated that staring this March, the terminal will handle 3 million cubic meters of LNG per annum.

Pakistan has upgraded its existing north-south gas distribution system to handle the LNG imports and is also working on a new $2 billion north-south gas pipeline with Russian collaboration.