Pakistan Gas Port Limited (PGPCL) has sought the allocation of pipeline capacity for the transmission of 150 mmcfd of Re-gasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) on a three-month rolling basis, a national daily reported.
The move comes after Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCOE) had announced on 4 February 2021 that the existing available capacity in the pipeline will be allocated to any applicant meeting the requisite criteria for the three-month rolling basis until the new terminals achieve commercial operations date (CoD) in order to provide a fair and level playing field to the new LNG terminal.
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PGPL is one of the leading private players in the LNG sector and owns PGP Consortium Limited (PGPC). It has written a letter to the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) seeking the pipeline capacity allocation while considering the latest decision taken by the CCOE.
According to the letter, PGPL has requested a pipeline allocation capacity of 150 mmcfd on three-month rolling and take-or-pay bases. The letter also detailed that the agreement will become operative on the 30th day after the Third-Party Access (TPA) Rules are finalized, and mentioned that the draft of the Inter-User Agreement (IUA) is to be approved by the government.
PGPL has also said in the letter that its LNG terminal has an additional capacity of 150 mmcfd after meeting its contractual obligation to Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL).
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Regarding this issue, the management of the PGPCL said that since it has an FSRU (floating storage re-gasification unit) and LNG terminal along with an excess capacity of 150 mmcfd, and that it believes that these are the prerequisites that need to be met, which is why the company has submitted an application to the OGRA for the allocation of pipeline capacity.
At the government’s end, both the details about these prerequisites and the Third Party Access (TPA) rules are yet to be finalized. The Inter-User Agreement (IUA) draft also remains to be finalized, and it is difficult for the private sector to play its role in supplying LNG to private consumers at competitive prices in the absence of the TPA rules and the IUA.
However, the PLL claims it has already floated the advertisement for the use of the idle terminal capacity by the private sector in accordance with the decision of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) and the Cabinet.
