Qatar Asks Pakistan to Build LNG Terminals

Qatar will provide Pakistan with LNG at right price and quantity given latter builds LNG terminals to receive the fuel, Gulf Times quoted a senior Pakistani government official as saying.  

Shahbaz Sharif, the chief minister of the Punjab province, arrived in Doha to move the stalled LNG import talks forward on an urgent basis, the newspaper said.

About the progress made in the LNG talks, Sharif said that many positive developments had been made and actually the onus had now been put on the Pakistani leadership to build the necessary infrastructure as soon as possible to make the deal a reality.

Sharif said that Qatar has advised Pakistan to build floating terminals which can be built and operated quickly, instead of permanant stations. 

When asked why Qatar had not offered to build the terminals for Pakistan, Sharif claimed that previously too this was the suggested model. “People who say that Qatari government had offered to build these terminals were not being honest. Even today, they told us very clearly that we can talk about the gas volumes and price but as a supplier they don’t build terminals as an investor in the receiving countries. They used to do that when LNG was not a popular energy choice,” he said.