Fauji Foundation is interested in setting up of a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal at Port Qasim Authority (PQA) on joint venture basis. Briefing National Assembly Standing Committee on Port and Shipping, Chairman PQA, Agha Jan Akhtar said that from March 26, 2015 to date Pakistan has imported 15 ships of LNG from Qatar on spot purchase basis and during next three months another 9 shipments will be imported.
The committee meeting was held here under the Chairmanship of Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, MNA to discuss the latest scenario of LNG shipment at Port Qasim. The committee was informed that Fauji Foundation is considering this project to supply LNG to private consumers such as industrial units, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) outlets, fertiliser plants, private housing colonies and others.
The committee was informed that the government of Pakistan has allowed all the sectors to start LNG imports from anywhere in the global market and the government will provide necessary facilities to LNG importers. All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) is negotiating with the Ministry of Petroleum to start importing LNG for operating Punjab based CNG outlets, which are closed due to non availability of natural gas. Akhtar said that an amount of Rs 562 million was outstanding against Pakistan State Oil (PSO) on account of different port charges for handling 15 LNG ships. He said that so far PQA has received Rs 652 million as port charges out of Rs 1.2 billion. On average PQA was charging $0.8 million as port charges per LNG carrier, the committee was informed.
"To date, 15 LNG cargo shipments have taken place. The first cargo of LNG arrived at Port Qasim on 26th March 2015 on FSRU, Initial six cargoes were procured from Qatar by PSO on FOB basis and the FSRU was used as LNG carrier, The last nine (9) cargoes have been procured by PSO on Delivery Ex-Ship (DES) basis and these cargoes have arrived on various conventional LNG carriers and the LNG is safely offloaded into the FSRU through Ship to Ship (STS) transfer operations"
The LNG transfer rate between LNG carrier and FSRU is 8000m3/hr on average and one payload takes approximately 18 hours to offload. The LNG once received from LNG carrier is stored and re-gasified on FSRU the re-gasified LNG is then pumped through onshore pipelines into Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) distribution system.
The PQA under the agreement with M/s EETPL and being a part and parcel of the supply chain is to provide necessary Pilotage by real time simulation trained pilots, specialised LNG compatible tugs and other services to the LNG carrier/FSRU as such for each shipment port charges, wharfage etc are billed.
The Secretary, Ministry of Ports and Shipping apprised the Committee that the Federal Cabinet had approved LNG Fast Track Project which was commissioned in March, 2015. This terminal was based on Floating LNG terminal concept permanently moored FSRU. This FSRU has a storage capacity of 151,000 m3 and is designed to handle 3. Million ton LNG annually.
Additional Secretary Petroleum Ministry informed the Committee that the LNG being more environment friendly and cheaper source of energy is used for power production and the government has decided to replace costly fuels such as Furnace Oil (FO) and Diesel with LNG. He added that as per rough estimates by replacing LNG with diesel and furnace oil the country will save up to $1 billion per annum once Pakistan starts importing 400 Million Cubic Feet per Day (MMCFD) at present LNG imports are 200 MMCFD.
Responding to a question he said that at present nine power houses (IPPs) were using LNG, adding that power production on LNG was cheaper as compared with other fuels. He said that after converting all diesel and furnace oil based power plants on LNG the relief of cheaper power production will be passed on to the end consumer. On the question of NAB Investigation in terms of LNG he informed that during the investigations all the required information was provided to the NAB and the NAB has shown its satisfaction in this regard. The Committee also offered Fateha for late Makhdoom Muhammad Amin Fahim, MNA who passed away recently.
The meeting was attended by Haji Muhammad Akram Ansari, Chaudhary Hamid Hameed, Sohail Shoukat Butt, Salman Hanif Khan, Mehar Ishtiaq Ahmad, Pir Muhammad Aslam Bodla, Lal Chand Malhi, Muhammad Salman Khan Baloch, Muhammad Jamal-ud-Din, Mir Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani and Kanwar Naveed Jameel.