India in negotiations to supply Pakistan with LNG through new pipeline

India’s state-controlled gas company GAIL is currently negotiating with Pakistan to export natural gas from the state of Punjab via a new pipeline, to reduce energy shortages in the neighbouring country.

GAIL chairman and managing director B C Tripathi told The Indian Express that the company plans to build a new 110km pipeline from Jalandhar to Wagah border through Amritsar to provide natural gas to Pakistan.

The gas, in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG), will be imported at ports in Gujarat state and supplied by GAIL’s existing pipeline network to Jalandhar, and from there through the proposed new pipeline to Pakistan.

Pakistan plans to import 1 to 1.5 million tonnes of LNG at early stages, while GAIL has already started pricing and other commercial negotiations with Pakistan, according to Tripathi.

Pakistan wishes to be exempt from taxes to reduce the price of the LNG.

In May 2012, GAIL and Pakistan’s Inter State Gas System signed gas sales and purchase agreements with Turkmenistan’s state gas company Turkmengaz for a proposed $7.6bn pipeline that will run across central Asia.

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Image: GAIL plans to build a new 110km pipeline from Jalandhar to Wagah border through Amritsar to supply LNG to Pakistan.
Photo: courtesy of Magnus Manske.