The countries signed an intergovernmental agreement for a pipeline that would connect liquefied natural gas terminals in southern Pakistan with its energy-hungry north in 2019 to 2020, the Russian Energy Ministry said in a statement Friday.
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A subsidiary of the Russian state corporation Rostech will be the partner of the Pakistan-owned Inter State Gas Systems (ISGS).
Rostec said that its unit, RT Global Resources, will build the pipeline with capacity of up to 12.4 billion cubic metres of gas per year, which should connect LNG-receiving facilities in Karachi with Lahore.
Works on the pipeline route, design and engineering operations are now underway.
The entire project should be completed by 2020.
“Currently there’s an acute shortage of energy in the densely populated regions of Pakistan, specifically in the center and north of the country”.
The agreement was signed in Islamabad by Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak and Pakistani Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi at an event attended by Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
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The South Asian state is desperate for solutions to a long-running power crisis that has sapped economic growth and left its 200 million inhabitants deeply frustrated by incessant electricity cuts. A leading Russian petroleum company, JGC Rosgeologia (Rosgeo), has recently signed two memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with two public sector E&P companies for joint ventures.
