KARACHI: Engro Corporation is looking at the possibility of constructing a 400 to 600 million cubic feet per day (mcfd) Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal through a partnership with private sector companies, said Engro Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Khalid Siraj Subhani. “It also plans to build a 450 megawatts LNG-fueled power plant for as much as $700 million. Engro is also looking to invest overseas in energy and fertilizer sectors after the firm sells its stakes in existing businesses. The idea is to keep expanding; there is a strong desire,” Subhani said. “There are so many elements we are working on, how they will materialize it depends, but our focus will be towards the energy sector.” Engro is seeking to turn energy crisis in South Asia’s second-largest economy into an opportunity as the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif pushes to end shortages within two years. The government is adding power plants with the help of Chinese investment and started importing gas last year with Engro building the nation’s first LNG terminal. Outages lasting 18 hours had led to street protests in Karachi as recently as June, while falling natural gas production at home forced companies to idle its plant. The energy starved nation’s average electricity generation is 16,000 megawatts with deficit peaking to about 5,000 megawatts in the summer, according to Tahir Abbas, analyst at Arif Habib Limited. Engro is also part of a joint venture to produce 660 megawatts of electricity from plants that would be built and start from around June 2019. It would use coal for the first time from deposits in the southern Pakistan region of Thar, which has one of the world’s largest lignite quality coal deposits. The company plans to double the production and coal mining in the second phase of the project. Construction has started with about 200 Chinese workers on site for the $2 billion project, said Subhani. The project, part of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and announced last year, includes about $820 million loans from Chinese banks. Currently, the company makes nearly half of its total revenues from the fertilizer business, less than a third from food and 7 percent from power, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Overseas expansion: Engro is also considering investing in a fertilizer plant through a joint venture in North America or Africa, Subhani said, adding that target region would be identified by the year-end and the company wanted to replicate a 72 megawatts power plant that it has already constructed and operational in Nigeria, with another facility planned in Africa’s largest economy and other possible projects in neighbouring countries including Benin. “International projects will be less capital intensive, and will rely more on our skills and expertise,” Subhani said, adding that he would like to see its international businesses contribute about 20 percent of total revenue within nine years. “Engro’s plan to expand abroad could be funded by selling stakes in its food, fertilizer and chemical businesses and the company may be able to raise $693 million at current prices,” said Danish Ali Kazmi, a senior research analyst at Alfalah Securities Limited. Dutch dairy company, Royal FrieslandCampina NV, is conducting due diligence to buy 51 percent stake in Engro Foods Limited, while ATS Synthetic is interested in Engro Polymer and Chemicals Limited. It is also looking to sell up to 24 percent stake in Engro Fertilizers. “This year Engro’s shares have raised to 20 percent, outperforming the 8 percent gain of Pakistan’s benchmark index, the best performer in Asia after stake sale announcements. That’s despite the company’s 2015 annual 4.7 percent rise in revenue, the slowest rate in seven years. Fertilizer business is becoming increasingly more challenging,” said MCB-Arif Habib Savings and Investments Limited Chief Investment Officer Muhammad Asim. “Power will provide it that stability and potential to build up further.”