Pakistan, Russia ink amended agreement for gas pipeline project

Pakistan and Russia have signed a protocol on the amendments to the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) on North-South Gas Pipeline Project.

The amended IGA has been signed between Pakistan’s Ambassador to Russian Federation Shafqat Ali Khan and Russian Minister for Energy Nikolay Shulginov.

As per the updated protocol, the project has been renamed as Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline, Pakistan Embassy Russia said in Twitter.

Shulginov was reported by TASS news agency as saying: “Relevant authorities of our countries completed a large amount of work on the preparation of this protocol.

“Its signing will enable our companies to start practical implementation of this project as soon as possible, thereby helping the Pakistani side to strengthen its energy security and increase the use of natural gas as an environmentally pure energy source.”

Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) is planned to be launched within 60 days from the date of signing for project implementation.

The project is estimated to cost around $2.25bn, reported Business Recorder citing Pakistani officials.

As per the revised agreement, Pakistan can have a 74% stake in the pipeline project while Russia can own the remainder.

Planned to be built by Russia, the 1,122km pipeline will have an estimated annual capacity of 12.4 billion cubic metres.

It will connect LNG terminals in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi with Lahore in the northeast.

Although the two countries signed IGA on the pipeline project in 2015, it was not implemented due to the sanctions on Russian firm Rostec by the US and disagreements over fees.

Several Russian entities have faced US sanctions as a result of the 2014 annexation of the Crimea Peninsula from Ukraine.