A Dutch-Pakistan venture is inviting companies willing to secure capacities at a planned onshore LNG import terminal in Port Qasim to submit their bids.
Elengy Terminal Pakistan, owned by Vopak and Engro, has invited expression of interest on a non-binding basis from international and local LNG suppliers.
The interested parties looking to secure regasification, storage and other services such as bunkering and reloading should submit their bids via the project’s website.
The venture aims to build a multi-functional terminal with a send out capacity of up to 1,200 million standard cubic feet per day.
The facility would have storage capacity of up to 480,000 cubic meters.
Subject to a final investment decision, Elengy Terminal Pakistan plans to launch commercial operations from what would be Pakistan’s first onshore LNG terminal in 2023.
Pakistan LNG import growth
The Dutch-Paksitan venture already operates a floating LNG import terminal at Port Qasim.
The country’s first terminal started operations back in 2015 utilizing Exclerate’s FSRU Exquisite and has handled over 300 LNG cargoes to date.
The US company will replace the existing FSRU with a larger newbuild as part of a deal signed in January in order to cater to the facility’s expansion activities.
Pakistan’s Port Qasim also hosts another floating LNG import facility which is using FSRU BW integrity , owned by Singapore’s gas shipping giant BW and Japan’s Mitsui.
Pakistan has been steadily increasing its LNG imports over the years and the country plans to build several more terminals to cope with gas shortages for power generation.
The country imported 8.10 million tonnes of the fuel last year, a rise of 18.1 per cent on year, GIIGNL data shows.
Qatar is the largest supplier of LNG to Pakistan but the country also receives chilled fuel from other Middle East producers and suppliers from other regions.