ISLAMABAD: The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has issued licences for construction and operation of pipelines, the last leg of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) supply, to Energas Terminal (Pvt.) Limited and Tabeer Energy (Pvt.) Limited.
According to the authority, all licensing formalities have been completed in the minimum possible time enabling companies to install facilities and bring RLNG in the country.
Once the facilities are completed and made operational by the two companies, the country will have an additional supply of 1500-2000 MMCFD of natural gas for industrial and other customers.
According to a statement by OGRA, this activity will bring huge investment in the RLNG sector, competition in the gas market, create new job opportunities by restarting operations of closed industries and starting new ones, thus playing a vital role in the country’s economic boost.
Imran Ghaznavi, a spokesman of OGRA, said that the authority is determined with its vision in cohesion with the federal government’s policy to contribute towards growth of the energy sector and ensure that the energy market is accessible, competitive and profitable.
He said that OGRA has granted these licences for the implementation of policies and to increase private investment and ownership in the midstream and downstream oil and gas industry of the country while protecting public interest and providing effective regulation.
He said in this effect, OGRA, in the recent past, has granted licences to the private sector including the LNG virtual pipeline licences to Daewoo Pvt. Ltd. and LNG Easy Pvt. Ltd., and sale of RLNG licences to Trafigura, and Shell Energy.
Earlier, the authority granted licences for an LNG Terminal with the capacity of 750-1000MMCFD each and sale of RLNG licences.
It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan has announced that it will auction highly lucrative oil and gas exploration blocks, mainly the ones earlier awarded to exploration firms; however, the deals were later cancelled or remained under litigation by the end of the year in an effort to increase hydrocarbon production.
The move is expected to help reduce the country’s reliance on expensive imported fuels.
The government unveiled the strategy to increase local production and overcome energy scarcity after booking four cargo ships of LNG at a high price of over $15 per million British thermal units (mmbtu) for September delivery.
“The government is doubling down on its efforts to enhance gas production by launching the next exploration and production bidding round, targeting high-potential ‘surrendered’ and ‘under litigation’ blocks, by the year end,” the Ministry of Energy said in a statement on Friday.
“Earlier, the government cancelled awarded blocks in Balochistan and Sindh after the winning companies failed to initiate work or develop the blocks for production or they were placed under litigation for some reason,” Pak-Kuwait Investment Company Head of Research Samiullah Tariq said.
