Engro Elengy Terminal informed it has signed loan agreements with Asian Development Bank and the International Finance Corporation, that made an equity investment and provided a $20 million loan for Pakistan’s first LNG import terminal.
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, said in a statement its investment will go towards the design, construction and operation of the $125 million Elengy terminal that has been set up at Port Qasim, near Karachi.
The terminal utilizes the FSRU Exquisite provided by U.S.-based Excelerate Energy, capable of handling up to 4.5 million tons of LNG every year. Since its start-up in March, the facility has already received nine cargoes of liquefied natural gas.
Its aim is to ease the country’s crippling power shortages and reduce its reliance on expensive diesel and heavy fuel oil imports.
Power outages are estimated to cost the equivalent of 7 percent of Pakistan’s GDP annually, with blackouts and brownouts lasting up to eight hours in cities and even longer in the countryside. According to the latest Enterprise Survey conducted in Pakistan, the absence of a reliable electricity supply was cited by two-thirds of business owners and managers as the top constraint facing firms in the country.
[mappress mapid=”17688″]
LNG World News Staff; Image: Excelerate Energy