Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) is in process of issuing licenses to four companies which had applied for establishing LNG terminals in the country. Sources in Ministry of Petroleum said that Ogra is in process of issuing operation license to Pakistan Gas Port Consortium Limited (PGPCL). The PGPCL has established the LNG Terminal-2 at Port Qasim Karachi which was commissioned in early January 2018.
The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on June 29, 2016 directed Ogra to approve the tariff of 41.77 cents per MMBTU for LNG Terminal-2. The operational and services agreement was submitted by Pakistan LNG Terminal Limited (PLTL) with Pakistan Gas Port Limited (PGPL) at a service charge of $0.4177 per MMBTU for tolling services and the ECC to this effect approved it for OGRA as policy guidelines in terms of section 21 of the OGRA Ordinance.
The Section 21 of Ogra Ordinance 2002 states: "The federal government may, as and when it considers necessary, issue policy guidelines to the authority on matters of policy not inconsistent with the provisions of this Ordinance or the rules and the authority shall comply with the policy guidelines in the exercise of its powers and functions and in making decisions." Other applications for establishment of LNG Terminal from other project developers ie Energas, PGPL-II and a consortium of Fatima, Shell and Engro are also under process with the authority for grant of a provisional license.
Exxon Mobil, Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsui have also shown their interest to establish LNG terminals in the country. Due to huge demand-supply scenario of natural gas, investors of LNG are expected to increase in number and the OGRA being the regulatory authority is encouraging the prospective investors to invest in LNG projects.
Exxon Mobil is reportedly working with a group of local partners on a proposal to build and supply the country's third import terminal for liquefied natural gas. "Mitsubishi is undertaking several joint ventures in Pakistan and is also setting up Pakistan's 3rd LNG terminal," said a statement after the meeting between Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and a delegation of Mitsubishi Corporation on March 27, 2018.
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