The pace of setting up R-LNG terminals has intensified with yet another one to be constructed at Sonmiani by the Bahria Foundation. The Foundation is a charitable trust operating under the Endowment Act 1890 and has a wide range of business interests spanning across real estate, construction, boat building, container terminal, paints and maritime services.
This is going to be the fifth R-LNG terminal in the country. The first two are already in operation at Port Qasim, Karachi and have a capacity of 600 MMSCFD each. The third one is also being constructed at Port Qasim by Turkish based Global Energy Infrastructure Limited (GEIL) and will have a capacity of 750 MMSCFD. The fourth one is being built by local consortium Energas comprising of Younus Brothers and Sapphire Group in partnership with Exxon Mobil Corp. and will have a capacity of 750 MMSCFD.
As reported in this paper last week, the LNG terminal will at Sonmiani will be connected to Nawabshah by a 310 kilometer pipeline which will be constructed by the Inter State Gas Systems Private Limited (ISGSL). It will have a capacity of 700 to 1200 MMSCFD and will be undertaken on a built-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) basis.
The main source of revenue for RLNG terminals is the regasification toll which has been $0.66 per MMBTU for the Engro Elengy Terminal and $0.4177 per mmbtu for the PGP Consortium Limited (PGPC) under their LNG Operations and Services Agreement (LSA).
According to the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority’s (OGRA) State of Regulated Petroleum Industry FY17, the shortfall in gas is expected to reach 3,999 MMcf/d by 2020 and the gap will reach 6,611MMcf/d without imported gas by 2030. So the construction of new RLNG terminals is warranted to bridge the deficit.
Last year, the power sector’s share in consumption of gas continued to be the highest at 43 percent of overall consumption. This was followed by the residential sectors which consumed 21 percent each. In FY17 the share of RLNG in the gas supply clocked in at 16 percent but this will increase steadily in the years to come and with it demand an efficient LNG supply-chain.