Negotiations underway to finalise MOU for Pak-Russia $10 bln offshore gas pipeline deal

ISLAMABAD, Aug 1 (APP):Bilateral negotiations are in progress to finalize a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for an offshore pipeline deal, aimed at supplying gas to Pakistan with $10  billion investment Russia.
“The MoU with the Gazprom, a Russian energy giant, is being finalized for  the investment. The Russian investment in Pakistan’s energy sector and crucial projects such as the off shore pipeline, will eventually encourage the regional connectivity,” Managing Director Inter State Gas Systems (Pvt.) Limited (ISGSL) Mobin Saulat told APP on Wednesday.
He said the ISGSL, a state entity working under Petroleum Division of the
Energy Ministry, is poised to play a leading role in forging energy cooperation
with Russia at the bilateral level.
Saulat said a high-level Russian delegation was expected to visit Pakistan
soon to discuss matters, related to $2 billion North-South gas pipeline project,
besides a MoU for the offshore pipeline deal.
Once the MoU is signed, a feasibility study for the offshore gas pipeline
project would commence next year.
Commenting on the North-South pipeline project, he said that significant
progress had been made and the bilateral talks on BOOT (Build-Own-Operate-Transfer)
agreement had entered a crucial stage of negotiation.
Russia is eying greater energy cooperation with Pakistan as a vital link to
upgrade and elevate ties with the upcoming government, being formed after the
General Election-2018, he added.
The route survey for laying 1100-kilometer gas pipeline from Lahore to
Karachi (North-South) has been completed and the Price Negotiations Committee,
constituted by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), is in the process of
finalizing its tariff.
Pakistani and Russian experts have been holding negotiations on the BOOT
agreement to lay the pipeline for which the two countries had signed an
intergovernmental accord on October 16, 2015.
Under the project, which did face some delay due to some international
sanctions on Russian company RT-Global Resources, around12.4bcm (billion
cubic meters) of gas would be transported per annum through a 42 inch
diameter pipeline.