Port Qasim earns $91mln in revenue on LNG import fees

ISLAMABAD: Seaport operator Port Qasim Authority (PQA) earned $91 million in revenue from various charges and fees on import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) during the last more than two years, sources said on Monday.

Port Qasim, a seaport 35 kilometres east of Karachi city centre, has different terminals for handling petroleum products and coal.  “Alone, LNG terminal has surpassed all the revenues earned through oil and liquefied petroleum gas terminals at PQA,” an official confirmed with The News. 

Ports levy cargo throughput and annual rental charges, including port dues, berth fees, pilotage, towage and wharfage.   The country’s first and only LNG terminal at Port Qasim, Engro LNG Terminal, built in March 2015, receives an average six LNG cargos a month. The terminal is re-gasifying approximately 600 million metric cubic feet per day (MMcfd) from LNG. The country imported 6.1 million tonnes of LNG in the last 28 months.

Fauji Oil Terminal and Distribution Company handles six to eight million tonnes of petroleum products per annum and PQA’s royalty stands at around four to five million dollars. The authority also earns approximately $2.4 million as Sui Southern Gas Company and Engro Vopak Terminal handles 500,000 tonnes of LPG a year. 

Officials said another LNG terminal with a capacity of 600MMcfd is also under construction at Port Qasim. With an estimated cost of $130 million, the second terminal is likely to achieve commercial operation this year.  A number of local and foreign ventures are working on projects to build more LNG terminals in the country.

A consortium of Exxon Mobil, Total, Mitsubishi, Qatar Petroleum and Norway’s Hoegh is also expected to set up the terminal.  Government projected the country’s annual LNG import at 30 million tonnes a year to meet the growing energy need in the country of 200 million people. 

Ever since the induction of LNG into the country’s gas distribution network, government has added 2,200 megawatts of electricity. It has invested in gas-fired power plants for additional 3,600MW on the back of LNG, which is cheaper than fuel oil and cleaner burning than coal. The gas-fired power plants are under construction in Sheikhupura, Jhang and Kasur districts and will be Pakistan’s most efficient power generation units. Port Qasim, the country’s second biggest port after Karachi port, is becoming the energy hub as there are 1,980MW of coal-fired and 1,350MW of RLNG-based power plants at different stages of development and construction near the seaport.  

The country’s only vertically integrated power firm K-Electric, Engro and Lucky Electric are setting up gas and coal power plants in the area.