Pak Russia signs MoU for offshore gas pipeline

‘Cooperation of Implementing $10 billion offshore Gas Pipeline Project’, Pakistan and Russia have signed an MoU at the Ministry of Energy of Russia at Moscow. According to details, Additional Secretary Petroleum Division Sher Afgan Khan and Russian Deputy Minister Anatoly Yanovsky signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU). After signing of the MoU for the offshore pipeline, the work on the feasibility study will begin.

Both the sides agreed to enhance cooperation in the field of energy. Inter State Gas Systems (ISGS) – a state-owned Pakistani company established to handle gas import projects – has been designed by Pakistan for executing the pipeline project along with Russian’s energy giant Gazprom.

The ISGS applied under the rule 4 of the Natural Gas (Licensing) Rules, 2002 for the grant of license to carry out the regulated activity of construction and operation of pipelines for countrywide transmission of natural gas. The petitioner stated that the ISGS is managed by the government of Pakistan to import natural gas through pipelines from neighboring countries or RLNG through LNG terminals and its delivery to the transmission systems of Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL).

The ISGS is implementing Iran-Pakistan (IP), Gwadar-Nawabshah LNG Terminal and Pipeline (GNGP), Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) and North-South Gas Pipeline (NSGP) projects.