Pakistan to renegotiate Qatar LNG deal amid high costs, paper says

Author: reuter

Pakistan will renegotiate a liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply pact with Qatar, seeking better terms, The News newspaper said on Friday, citing the petroleum minister.

An economic crisis has slashed power use in Pakistan, which gets more than a third of its electricity from natural gas, saddling it with excess capacity it still needs to pay for, under decade-old contracts with independent power producers.

“The Qatar agreement is costly, and we will negotiate better terms next year,” Musadik Malik told a parliamentary committee on energy, the paper added.

Pakistan deferred for year a deal to buy liquefied natural gas from Qatar and will now receive the contracted LNG cargoes in 2026 instead of 2025, Malik said in December, citing a surplus in LNG.

At the time he said deferring the deal brought no financial penalties, adding that Pakistan deferred five LNG cargoes from Qatar and was negotiating to defer five more with other markets, without disclosing the names of the sellers.

The petroleum ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Share
Leave a Comment

Recent Posts

  • Pakistan

War on terror has to be won at all costs: Zardari

President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday emphasised the need to win the "war against terrorism"…

25 mins ago
  • Pakistan

PM Shehbaz Sharif touches down in Saudi Arabia to bolster economic ties

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday arrived in Jeddah on four-day official visit to Saudi…

26 mins ago
  • Pakistan

WB approves $102m to boost financial inclusion

The World Bank's Board of Directors has approved $102 million in financing for the Resilient…

26 mins ago
  • Pakistan

Torkham border crossing reopens after nearly month-long closure

Torkham-BorderThe Torkham border crossing reopened on Wednesday after 27 days following much-awaited parleys between jirga…

27 mins ago
  • Pakistan

Govt caps sugar price at Rs164 per kg

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Wednesday said that the sale…

28 mins ago
  • Pakistan

FSC declares denial of women’s inheritance rights ‘un-Islamic’

Federal Shariat Court has declared that any custom by virtue of which any female member…

29 mins ago