Pakistan to have LNG terminal within 13 months

London: Pakistan's first liquefied natural gas import terminal at Port Qasim (pictured) near Karachi should be in service no later than April 2008, according to Kathleen Eisbrenner, chief executive of Texas-based Excelerate Energy, who is involved in the project.

Final financial arrangements for the project are likely to be resolved within a fortnight.
Excelerate's ships differ from standard LNG tankers in that they can convert the liquid gas to high pressure gas on board the ship and deliver directly into the local gas network. This enables Excelerate terminals to be built much more quickly and at a fraction of the cost of standard LNG terminals, which require the regassification equipment to be built onshore.
Eisbrenner said the jetty at Port Qasim will be designed to permanently accommodate one of Excelerate's regassification vessels. Standard LNG tankers will moor alongside and discharge their cargo into Excelerate's ship, she said.  [01/03/07]