|
|
Although technical teams from Pakistan and Qatar have met quite a few times to discuss a proposed LNG deal, the bottleneck over the pricing remains, a top Pakistani diplomatic source has told Gulf Times.
He added, however, that the issue was expected to be resolved at a meeting of the top leadership of the two countries.
The Qatar-Pakistan LNG deal, which is currently being negotiated, was expected to be to the tune of $2bn per year. In the recent past, senior officials from Pakistan, including Minister of Petroleum Shahid Khaqqan Abbasi and Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, have visited Qatar to negotiate the deal. Since then, technical delegations from both sides have also met to work out the finer details.
Qatari leaders had told Pakistan to first finalise arrangements at their end, including the setting up of LNG terminals, the source added.
Moreover, Qatar is expected to negotiate directly with the government of Pakistan about the LNG deal instead of participating through tenders, the source confirmed.
“Pakistan’s Ministry of Petroleum is directly holding talks with Qatar’s energy ministry in this regard and negotiations are at state level,” he said.
The diplomat sounded an optimistic note that the deal would be beneficial for both sides.
A section of the Pakistani press, however, in its report yesterday said that the LNG deal might be “stalled” after Qatar had reportedly turned down an offer by Pakistan to participate in a LNG supply tender. Qatar reportedly did not participate in the tender because it wanted to clinch a “direct government-to-government deal”.
According to the report, Pakistan wanted Qatargas to participate in a tender floated by Pakistan State Oil for LNG import. The last date for submitting bids under the PSO tender was June 30, which was extended to July 15.
Royal Dutch Shell, British Petroleum and Mitsubishi are some of the oil giants which reportedly participated in the bid. Through the tender, the Pakistani government was now expected to fix a benchmark price, which would be eventually used to negotiate a deal with Qatar and other countries.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources has also reportedly made headway in its efforts to set up an LNG terminal, which the Qatari authorities wanted its counterparts to do as soon as possible so that negotiations could be taken to the next level. The successful bidder of the LNG terminal has already been announced and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was likely to conduct the groundbreaking of the terminal in the first week of August.
