KARACHI: The first commercial import of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) will start from second week of January 2015, said a senior official of Engro Vopak company here at Port Qasim the otherday.
“All remaining work including jetty of the LNG facility from the ships will be completed at Elengy terminal (Engro Vokak terminal) at Port Qasim by December 2014.
Sheikh Imran Ul Haq, Chief Executive Officer Elengy terminal of Engro Company told media men that Engro Vopak (Elengy terminal) has laid 6.5 Kilometers, 24 inch diameter pipeline for supply of LNG from the terminal after its offloading.
He appreciated the government specially the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources for extending full support for initiation of the project of national importance.
He said the state of the art infrastructure has been developed keeping in view of all international safety standards.
Sheikh Imran ul Haq said his company was going to complete construction of the terminal before the stipulated period of 335 days.
He said the total cost of the project- US$ 145 million was fully financed by his company. He added that LNG after off loading from the ship at the jetty and floating storage regasification unit at Port Qasim would be injected in the pipeline of Sui Southern Gas Company Limited system for onward supply.
“There is no sovereign guarantee in the project and the whole amount has been financed by Engro Vopak company itself”, he remarked.
The CEO, Engro Vopak said the fastest LNG was terminal was built in ten months in Germany while his company was going to complete the project in nine or less then nine months.
He said his company has also offered the lowest rates of US $ .66 MMBTU which was the lowest price in the region. He added that terminal has the capacity of handling 600 mmcfd while government would import around 200 mmcfd in first year and gradually the volume would be increased according to the demand for the LNG at the terminal.
He said around 250 engineers and technicians of China Harbour Engineering Company Limited (CHEC) are working at Port Qaim and involved in the development of Engro Vopak LNG terminal.
During the visit of the terminal after the briefing, he responding to a query said the job of his company was to provide facilities for imported LNG at Port Qasim terminal and his company would receive service charges. However, he clarified that the determining the price of the LNG was the job of the government.
