ISLAMABAD: Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said Pakistan has started construction work on a seven hundred-kilometre pipeline to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) from China, said a report on Radio Pakistan.

Speaking to Voice of America (VoA), Abbasi said the project will be jointly funded by Pakistan and China.

He also said that Gwadar port will be used as the central hub for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), allowing western China to gain access to warm waters from Pakistan.

Abbasi said funds from China, in relation to this project, will be beneficial to Pakistan for completion of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project.

He said Pakistan has been trying to overcome its energy crisis by importing gas from Iran, adding that sanctions on Iran had resulted in difficulties in the way of inching closer to completing the Iran-Pakistan pipeline project.

Take a look: ECC approves 700km LNG pipeline project

The CPEC, with a planned portfolio of projects totalling around $46 billion, will link Gwadar, Khuzdar and other areas on way to Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ismail Khan and Peshawar along its central route.

The eastern route will connect Gwadar to Ratodero, Sukkur, and Karachi and upward to cities in Punjab, and from there to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Khunjerab Pass.

There have been security concerns over much of the plan, which relies on developing Gwadar — control of which was passed to a Chinese company in 2013.

Linking Gwadar to the rest of Pakistan and the western Chinese city of Kashgar, 3,000 kilometres away, will involve major infrastructure work in Balochistan.

Balochistan is one of Pakistan's most unstable provinces and has been dogged for over a decade by a bloody separatist insurgency. Ethnic Baloch rebels have in the past blown up numerous gas pipelines and trains and attacked Chinese engineers.

Read more: The cup and the lip

Follow Dawn Business on X, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook for insights on business, finance and tech from Pakistan and across the world.

Opinion

Editorial

Iran endgame
Updated 03 Mar, 2026

Iran endgame

AS hostilities continue following the Israeli-American joint aggression against Iran, there seems to be no visible...
Water concerns
03 Mar, 2026

Water concerns

RECENT reports that India plans to invest $60bn in increasing its water storage capacity on the Jhelum and Chenab...
Down and out
03 Mar, 2026

Down and out

ANOTHER Twenty20 World Cup, another ignominious exit — although this time Pakistan did advance past the first...
Khamenei’s killing
Updated 02 Mar, 2026

Khamenei’s killing

THERE is no question about it: with the brutal assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and...
NFC reform
02 Mar, 2026

NFC reform

PLANNING Minister Ahsan Iqbal’s call for forward-looking reforms in the NFC Award has reopened an important debate...
Migrant crisis
02 Mar, 2026

Migrant crisis

MIGRANT casualties represent the lifelong pain of families left behind. Yet countries do little to preserve ...