Engro to start LNG marketing business.

KARACHI -- Engro Corporation is setting up a gas marketing business in Pakistan along with the New York Stock Exchange-listed Excelerate Energy, a company official told Dawn in a recent interview.

Engro Eximp FZE, which is a subsidiary of Engro Corporation and serves as the Dubai-based trading arm for the Pakistani conglomerate, will lead the joint effort to establish a re-gasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) marketing business to open up new fuel supply avenues for private businesses, said company CEO Kaleem Asghar.

Pakistan's domestic gas reserves have been in decline for many years. Natural gas production has also gone down at an annualised rate of 2.2 per cent for five years. The gas sector regulator believes the shortfall will soon be close to two billion cubic feet per day (bcfd). The average winter demand is 6.5-7bcfd.

'The government has already approved third-party access, which opens possibilities for making (existing) terminal capacity available through expansions by bringing bigger floating storage re-gasification units (FSRU) as well as the sale of booked but unused capacity,' said Mr Asghar.

Pakistan began importing RLNG in 2015 by installing two purpose-built terminals on Port Qasim. Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd uses Engro Elengy Terminal to import gas under long-term contracts while Pakistan LNG Ltd brings spot purchases through GasPort LNG Terminal.

'In the long run, when a new terminal - either FSRU or land-based - is developed, (it) will also make available capacities for utilisation by multiple private parties,' he added.

The upcoming LNG terminals - Qatar-backed Energas LNG and Mitsubishi-backed Tabeer LNG - will have capacities of 750-1,000mmcfd each. Given the capacities of already operational Engro Elengy (690mmcfd) and GasPort LNG (750mmcfd), the addition of the...