Islamabad February 16 2022: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Mr. Shaukat Tarin held a virtual meeting with Minister for Energy and Chief Executive of Qatar Energy, Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, today.
Both sides discussed ways and means on promoting bilateral and economic ties between two countries. The issues for setting up of the LNG terminal in Pakistan came under discussion in the meeting. Finance Minister assured the Qatar Energy Minister, of all possible support to resolve the issues for facilitating the State of Qatar’s investment in Pakistan.
Secretaries of Finance, Maritime Affairs and Energy, Chairman OGRA and senior officers also participated in the meeting.
Earlier, the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) in November 2021 cleared state-run Qatar Energy’s bid to acquire 49 per cent stakes in an upcoming private sector LNG terminal, paving the way for Qatar’s first direct investment in Pakistan’s energy market.
Energas, a merchant terminal yet to come on ground, is currently owned by three local business groups — Lucky, Sapphire and Halmore. Qasim Terminal Holding LLC (QTHL) is a subsidiary of Qatar Energy formerly known as Qatar Petroleum which has two long-term LNG supply contracts with state-run Pakistan State Oil (PSO).
Qatar is the largest producer and exporter of LNG and has been increasing its production and making further inroads in LNG export markets in recent months.
In October last year, the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) approved allocation of pipeline capacity to two new LNG terminal developers — Energas and Tabeer Energy — to facilitate their investment in the additional gas infrastructure.
