ISLAMABAD In order to meet its growing energy needs, the coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is thinking of inking a multibillion-dollar LNG pipeline deal with Russia, according to a story published in The News on Thursday.
Islamabad’s action follows the Russian President Vladimir’s proposal to build an LNG pipeline from Iran to Pakistan and then connect it to India, made earlier this month at a meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz outside the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) conference.
The prime minister stated during the meeting that there is room to grow and improve the current bilateral trade between the two nations and that he would like to collaborate closely with President Putin to strengthen ties between them.
Bilateral trade between the two nations is valued at approximately $800 million to $900 million annually.
Senior government sources told the publication that while various ministries are conducting internal due diligence, Musadik Malik, the minister of petroleum, has been tasked with conducting research and developing workable solutions while taking the US sanctions against Iran and Russia into consideration.
The appropriate ministries have been tasked with evaluating this potential in light of regional and global circumstances and developing workable plans to boost trade by $20–25 billion annually.
In addition, other approaches are being investigated to bring this idea to reality, as earlier attempts to integrate the region’s energy supply—gas and electricity—have failed to materialize despite significant promotion over the past few decades.
The construction of the LNG pipeline coincides with Russia’s trade with European nations.Additionally, Islamabad and Moscow have a history of working together in the LNG industry. In 2015, they decided to construct a 1,100-kilometer (683-mile) pipeline that would transport imported LNG from Karachi, which is located on the Arabian Sea coast, to power facilities in Punjab’s northeastern state.
