The News reported that the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority will award the contract of setting up a terminal at Port Qasim next month which will be used for the import of Liquefied Natural Gas in the country.
Sources said that 18 companies had shown interest to setup the terminal, out of which one will be selected early next month under third party access rules. The delay in rules was the only snag in awarding the contract. The draft has already been sent to stakeholders for vetting purposes and now it should be approved in 2 weeks time. The Sui Southern Gas Company will allow the distribution of LNG through its system.
Mr Azim Siddiqui MD of SSGC said that OGRA would give the third party access to utilize SSGC infrastructure to only one party, while three other companies already given licences including Gasport, Engro Vopak and Global Energy Holdings have consented to setup their own infrastructure and terminal diluting the exclusivity of SSGC.
However, the sources said that these three companies are still in the race for SSGC capacity allocation. The selected party would develop their own LNG FSRU arranging their own supply of LNG and having their own buyers of re-gasified LNG.
Mr Siddiqui said that besides other requirements, OGRA had linked the award of contract to the company that could commence gas supply by the Q2 of 2012. SSGC expects to have available initially an entry and exit capacity of 500 million cubic feet per day RLNG. The development of an interconnection from the entry point at the LNG terminal to the nearest specified entry point in the SSGC transmission system would also be laid and developed by the investor.
The transmission commitment and the infrastructure should have the capacity of additional supply up to 2-BCF-D subject to the need and demand. Meanwhile, local companies which have been waiting for years to enter into the LNG business, allege that a Turkish competitor is being given preference because of the government pressure.
An official close to the development said that every government department is going out of its way to help little known Global Energy Holding. It has been issued relevant licences in a matter of months while other companies have waited for years.
(Sourced from www.thenews.com.pk)
