Pakistan has agreed to import natural gas from Qatar following delays on a proposal to build a pipeline to transport the fuel from Iran, officials say.
Pakistani and Qatari officials met yesterday in Doha and reached a preliminary agreement to ship 1.5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year to Pakistan, a government energy adviser told Bloomberg. "There is a shortage," said Asim Hussain, a petroleum and natural resources adviser to the Pakistani government. "We are a country that is not self-sufficient in gas."
Pakistan had originally sought 3.2 million tonnes, but Qatar could not provide that amount, Mr Hussain said. Pakistan regularly suffers power cuts because it has inadequate supplies of gas to fuel power stations.
The country faces a gas shortage of about 192 million cubic feet per day (cfd), according to estimates released earlier this year by the ministry of petroleum resources. That amount will grow to 507 million cfd next year and reach 3 billion cfd by 2015.
The volumes of LNG under discussion yesterday would work out to about 200 million cfd.
LNG is gas that is cooled to a liquid state for transport by tanker. It commands a premium to pipeline gas, but Pakistan has few other options. Domestic reserves are inadequate, and officials have disclosed little progress on a stalled plan to pipe gas from Iran through Pakistan to India.
The scheme envisions construction of a 2,100km pipeline to transport about 1 billion cfd from Iran's South Pars field.
India has shown little enthusiasm for the project, but Iran and Pakistan last month signed an agreement to construct the pipeline and give the full volume to Pakistan.
But in the absence of financial support from India, the project was unlikely to proceed, particularly because of security concerns about laying a pipeline through Pakistan's restive north-west tribal region, said Samuel Ciszuk, an analyst at IHS Global Insight.
"There's still no progress on it, and you have the whole security issue obstructing it," he said. "It makes sense for Pakistan to look somewhere else."
* with Bloomberg
cstanton@thenational.ae
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Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
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Starring: Jamie Bell, Danielle McDonald, Bill Camp, Vera Farmiga
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Our legal advisor
Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.
Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
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- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
PROFILE OF INVYGO
Started: 2018
Founders: Eslam Hussein and Pulkit Ganjoo
Based: Dubai
Sector: Transport
Size: 9 employees
Investment: $1,275,000
Investors: Class 5 Global, Equitrust, Gulf Islamic Investments, Kairos K50 and William Zeqiri
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
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The five pillars of Islam
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Producer: T-Series, Anil Kapoor Productions, ROMP, Prerna Arora
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MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING
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Book%20Details
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