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A high-level delegation from Pakistan, including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s younger brother and two federal ministers, will arrive in Doha today on a one-day visit that will include on its agenda a breakthrough in the volumes and pricing formula for LNG imports from Qatar. |
Diplomatic sources told Gulf Times that Shahbaz Sharif, Nawaz’s younger brother, who is also the chief minister of Punjab province, was appointed by the Pakistani premier as his special envoy to officially convey the country’s felicitations over Qatar’s peaceful transition of power.
Sharif is scheduled to meet HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani today.
The senior Pakistani leader’s delegation includes Federal Minister for Petroleum Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif.
The delegation is expected to also meet HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani.
One of the main challenges faced by the newly-elected Pakistani government is the severe energy and power crises in the country. When the delegation meets Qatari leadership, including HE the Minister of Energy and Industry Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada later in the day, the talks are expected to focus on how Qatar can facilitate Pakistan, especially in the form of better LNG price formula.
“We don’t expect a breakthrough and a deal to be signed immediately, but we hope to see a major step forward in our talks over the LNG import issue,” a senior Pakistani official said.
The Pakistani petroleum ministry reportedly wants to negotiate the import of 500mmcfd LNG from Qatar. In March 2013, Qatar had, according to Pakistani media, offered to provide 250mmcfd to Pakistan at $17.437/mmbtu.
However, the main challenge for Pakistan was the absence of the infrastructure necessary to receive and relay LNG in Pakistan, which the Qatari offer did not include.
With the infrastructure cost of at least $200mn factored in, the Qatar LNG price formula reportedly works out at $19.521/mmbtu.
For this reason alone, the Pakistani delegation was expected to face an uphill task in explaining why Qatar should sell gas to Pakistan at a lesser price given that it could get good market prices by selling it to countries that already had an LNG infrastructure.
This is the first high-level visit from Pakistan since the May 11 general elections in which Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) party emerged victorious.
PML-N sources say that the Sharif family historically have had ‘very close relations’ with the ruling family of Qatar and they hope that due to this ‘key factor,’ the new Pakistani government would have a better chance of making a breakthrough than its predecessor, the Pakistan People’s Partly-led government, under whose tenure the LNG-import talks were initiated.
Also, while the high-level visit from Pakistan comes in the backdrop of the recent opening of the Afghan Taliban office in Doha and rumours of Pakistan’s role in the Afghanistan ‘endgame’, a senior official categorically denied any meeting with any representative of the Taliban office.
“Pakistani leaders don’t need to come to Doha for that,” a senior Pakistani official said, adding that the visit had purely economic aims and desired to establish a bond with the new Qatari leadership.