LNG, dredging projects: experts see 'foregone conclusion' for today's ECC meeting

Pundits in the ports and shipping circles expect a "foregone conclusion" of today's (Tuesday) ECC meeting which is scheduled to decide the fate of long-delayed but very important projects like the construction of Mashal LNG Terminal and capital dredging at Port Qasim.
According to sources, the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet would meet in the federal capital under the chairmanship of Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Naveed Qamar in the absence of the finance minister.
As for the fate of the over $600 million Mashal LNG Terminal project, the experts base their prediction again on Qamar as a federal minister for petroleum. They opine that a petroleum minister should naturally be prone to encourage all such projects that would provide the crises-hit government with an alternative source of energy like the LNG to overcome energy shortage in the country.
The experts believe that the committee should be rational enough to sense an interrelated nature of the two long-pending projects, namely the capital dredging and the LNG project. "No deeper-draft ship carrying the LNG can be accommodated at the Port Qasim until its channel is dredged to the required level," said an expert, who requested not to be named.
Apart from the energy factor, the Mashal project is also envisaged to increase the cargo throughput at the country's second largest seaport. The Mashal LNG Terminal, which would be constructed under the country's first LNG project "Pakistan Mashal LNG Project", is envisaged to ensure an uninterrupted supply of the ever-needed fuel to industries, power or fertiliser plants, etc, on sustainable basis.
The experts, however, see certain issues that, if not catered for, would undermine the role of the Port Qasim Authority, one of the three key partners in the Mashal LNG project. Whereas a Dutch firm, "4Gas", is inching towards signing a multimillion dollars deal with the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) to develop a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal as a re-gasification facility, the role of the PQA appears to be secondary or to say an entity taken for granted.
According to experts, the 4Gas is still far from negotiating with the PQA the terms and conditions for an Implementation Agreement which is a prerequisite under the PQA Act.
The 4Gas is also said to have been proceeding at a snail's pace with the PQA in terms of hiring an internationally reputed consultant for conducting the Qualitative Risk Assessment (QRA) study to the satisfaction of port authorities. The PQA officials, who are more concerned about the royalty and the QRA, however, told Business Recorder that it was too early to go for an Implementation Agreement.
The experts, however, substantiate their concern by claiming that the summaries, submitted to the ECC by the ministries of petroleum and ports and shipping, carried no mention of an Implementation Agreement between the parties of the LNG project. "It is an aspect which needs to be catered at the earliest so that it could at least be signed in the future," experts suggested.