KARACHI: Engro Corpo­ration plans to expand its power generation business and build a second liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal.

The Karachi-based company is looking at the possibility of constructing a 400-600 million cubic feet a day LNG terminal, through a partnership, for private sector companies, Chief Executive Officer Khalid Siraj Subhani said in a statement on Tuesday.

The company also plans to build a 450 megawatts LNG-fuelled power plant for as much as $700 million, he added.

Engro is also looking to invest overseas in energy and fertiliser after the firm sells stakes in existing businesses, he said.

Pakistan’s average electricity generation is 16,000 megawatts with deficit peaking to about 5,000MW in the summer.

Engro is also part of a joint venture to produce 660MW of electricity from plants that will be built and start around June 2019 using coal for the first time from deposits in Thar, which has one of the world’s largest lignite quality coal deposits.

The company plans to double production and coal mining in the second phase of the project.

Construction has started with about 200 Chinese workers on site for the $2 billion project, said Mr Subhani. The project, part of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), announced last year includes about $820 million loans from Chinese banks. Currently the company makes nearly half of its total revenues from the fertilizer business, less than a third from food and seven per cent from power.

Dutch dairy company Royal FrieslandCampina NV is conducting due diligence to buy 51pc stake in Engro Foods Ltd and ATS Synthetic Pvt in Engro Polymer and Chemicals Ltd. It is also looking to sell up to 24pc stake in Engro Fertilisers Ltd.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2016