KARACHI: The boards of Younus Brothers Group and Sapphire Group have announced their investment plans for Energas LNG terminal to be developed at Port Qasim, a press release issued on Tuesday said.

The LNG terminal is designed to berth a FSRU of 173,340 m3 along with an LNG carrier of 266,000 m3. Tolling capacity of the terminal shall be a maximum of 800mmcfd with a 30-inch pipeline connection to the main grid.

Muhammad Ali Tabba of the YB Group said, “We hope to support the country’s efforts to alleviate the existing energy crisis with this investment decision.”

Contracts will be awarded after pending government approvals are received. The expected completion date for the project is Q1-2019. The investment decision is expected to give momentum to future resource development plans of the shareholders, which include Mian Karim, sponsors of the 225MW Halmore Power Generation Company.

Discussing the business model of the terminal, Shahid Abdullah of the Sapphire Group explained, “Energas’s business model is similar to that of power utilities across the Far East, where operational control of the terminal is essential,” said.

“Through Energas, we have created a buyers’ platform to jointly secure LNG for captive use, discuss and solve our common issues and ensure that we secure LNG at preferable terms. The inherent risks of securing LNG can only be mitigated through collaborations between buyers,” said Anser Ahmed Khan, CEO of Energas Terminal Private Limited.

The CEO of Halmore Power, Zaheer Ahmed on behalf of his sponsors said that investment in this project is a testament to our confidence in the country’s energy market.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2017