Pakistan and Russia may take important decisions in the next month on the transport of Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) from Karachi to Lahore by establishing a North South Gas Pipeline (NSGP) of 1,100 kilometers.
Sources told Pak Revenue that, a critical meeting is likely to take place during September 2020 between Pakistan and officials from the Russian Federation. The meeting will take major decisions about the NSGP initiative.
Sources further informed that an arrangement for the construction of the NSGP may probably be inked between the two countries if Russia supports Pakistan’s proposal to cut project costs and awards the project in collaboration with Pakistani companies to Gazprom, a Russian energy firm.
Pakistan has told the Russian Federation of its reservations regarding the poor business qualifications and capacity of ETK to carry out a project as large as NSGP. However, Pakistan’s claims have been refuted by the Russian side, though various business interest groups in Pakistan have lobbied for ETK.
Pakistan has recently allowed more Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) terminals to be constructed at Karachi to meet the country’s rising gas demands.
On 16 October 2015, an agreement was signed between Pakistan and Russia to build the NSGP with a transmission capacity of 1.2 trillion cubic feet per day (BCFD) from Karachi to Lahore. Earlier in December 2015, RT-GR expressed its preference for the 25-year production of a Build Own Run and Move (BOOT) model.
In its decision of 11 April 2016, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) approved the project to be built under the BOOT model subject to clearance by the Ministry of Law, issuing an ISGS guarantee to be counter-guaranteed by Pakistan ‘s government.
