MOSCOW:

Amid an energy shortage, Pakistan is reportedly seeking liquified natural gas (LNG) supplies from Russia, revealed Pakistan’s Ambassador to Moscow Shafqat Ali Khan on Monday.

While speaking to the Russian news agency TASS, the diplomat said the two countries were currently in talks over the matter and pipeline gas supplies could be the solution to Pakistan’s rapidly-increasing energy shortage . Pakistan in talks with Russia over import of LNG supplies

That being said, due to the lack of necessary infrastructure for pipeline gas supplies, Pakistan is currently focusing on its “immediate needs” related to LNG.

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“We have established contact with the Russian side, and we are, of course, very much interested in the procurement of LNG. But that will come later. Our immediate need is for LNG,” he said.Pakistan in talks with Russia over import of LNG supplies

He added that an agreement on LNG supplies has yet to be reached with Russia. “We have just established contact on this,” he said.Pakistan in talks with Russia over import of LNG supplies

Due to the surge in global LNG prices, Pakistan’s energy security troubles have been fueled drastically, which in turn has heightened the economic woes for the country.

Pakistan also currently has no long-term LNG supplier with spare supply in the market also fast diminishing owing to the increase in demand from the European Union.Pakistan in talks with Russia over import of LNG supplies

With that in mind, he highlighted that Pakistan was calling for internat focus to

Speaking about whether or not Pakistan would consider buying gas from Russia through Iran – given Moscow and Tehran reached an agreement on swapping gas supplies – the ambassador said: “I am not an expert in this, but any such ideas will be welcome for us to study.”

ISLAMABAD:

As Russia develops the Yamal LNG project facility — Islamabad and Moscow are in talks to a multi-billion dollar government-to-government import deal.]

The Yamal LNG Project includes the development of the giant South Tambey (Tambeyskoye) gas field that is located near Sabetta in the Yamal peninsula in Russia. The Russian government has declared the project to be of national interest at a cost of around $27 billion.

This is a new addition to the energy cooperation between Pakistan and Russia as two countries are already working on different projects including the Pakistan Gas Stream, a gas pipeline from Kazakhstan and an offshore gas pipeline.

They added that Russia was developing the Yamal Project, which would be one of the largest LNG facilities in the world. Russia is also meeting the demand of Europe by exporting gas through a pipeline despite the opposition of the US. The sources said Pakistan LNG Limited was in talks with Russian firms Gazprom and Novatek to import the gas.

At present, Pakistan has a space on the second LNG terminal owned by Pakistan Gasport Consortium Limited (PGPC) to import the product despite a fresh deal of imports from Qatar. At present, Qatar controls the Pakistani market in terms of LNG import.

Earlier, Saudi Arabia had dominated the Pakistani oil market. However, Qatar had started supplying LNG to Pakistan. This affected the oil market on the supply of fuel to power plants as they had started using LNG to produce electricity.

. The sources said Pakistan was currently importing LNG from Qatar and wanted to apply this as a benchmark price for other countries including Russia. They said the benchmark price set by Pakistan might cause hurdles in implementing the LNG deal with Russia. Moreover, the prices of LNG had globally witnessed a sharp increase.

Secondly, the Russia is too far away and Pakistan might face higher freight charges in comparison with L Pakistan meets around 24% of its gas demand through LNG imports. Initially, the PML-N government had planned to utilise LNG in industrial, power and commercial sectors.

Pakistan in talks with Russia over LNG supplies