Staff Reporter
Islamabad
A private sector company, which secured gas sales and marketing licence from Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, is all set to start importing the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) before the advent of peak winter season, supplementing the government efforts to meet the consumers’ increased demand.
“We are ready and just waiting for the implementation on Legal Framework prepared by the government to facilitate private sector in the LNG import, ” Chief Executive Officer of Universal Gas Distribution Company (UGDC) Ghiyas Abdullah Paracha told APP.
He said there were some bureaucratic snags for private import and utilization of the LNG, which would hopefully be removed at the earliest as the government believed in opening up the energy sector for private sector players.
“The UGDCL has planned to import its first LNG shipment in October and November subject to implementation on the Legal Framework,” Paracha, who is also Central Chairman of the All Pakistan Compressed Natural Gas Association (APCNGA), said.
Recently, he said, the government had also invited the private sector to use the unutilized and access private capacity of the LNG terminals to ensure improved supply of the gas to consumers in the upcoming winter season.
With the private sector import, Paracha expressed confidence that the commodity shortage would be overcome to great extent; besides CNG stations and other industries would continue to operate as per routine.
He said it would also help the government saving around Rs 97 billion on account of the LNG terminals ‘fixed charges,’ if the private import continued throughout an year.
In addition, he said, the government would generate around Rs 104 billion revenue in a year after flow of private sector LNG in transmission network of Sui Southern Gas Company and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited.
