Pakistan eyes stronger economic ties with Russia through PSGP project

Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar has said that the Pakistan-Russia gas pipeline project would help enhance economic ties between the two countries.

Talking to a private television channel, he said that the Pakistan-Stream Gas Pipeline (PSGP) project would fulfill the energy demands of Pakistan and hoped that the project would be completed by the end of 2023.

“We want our relations with Russia to enhance further and in today's day and age a sustainable way of improving relations is through economic relations,” said Azhar.

He said that the Pak-Russia gas pipeline would be the first proof of this economic engagement after a very long time. “We partnered with Russia to develop the steel mills in the 1970s after which no major project was undertaken between the two sides,” he said.

Pakistan, Russia sign Heads of Terms for $2.5bn PSGP project

The federal minister said that the government is envisaging more projects with Russia in the near future. “We would also like to improve our trade relations with Russia through the Central Asian States,” said Azhar.

Informing about the funding of the project, he said Pakistan has a 74 percent share while the Russian side would have 26 percent liability.

Pakistan and Russia signed Heads of Terms on Thursday to construct the $2.5-billion Pakistan-Stream Gas Pipeline (PSGP) project of 1,040 kilometers from Port Qasim to Kasur.

Hammad said that the project would have a gas capacity of 1,600mmcfd, which could be increased to over 2,000mmcfd with the installation of more compressors.

He informed gold standard companies would provide engineering and design consultancy for the pipeline project, whereas local companies will be involved in laying the pipeline.

Gas pipeline: Russia concerned at reports?

The minister said that in the next 30 days technical deliberations will be initiated involving both financing and engineering design.

The Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline Project, formerly known as North-South Gas Pipeline, was originally announced in a joint statement of the Pakistan-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on November 26-28, 2014.