KOHAT: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi inaugurated the Taulanj gas processing plant on Tuesday.

The plant with a storage capacity of 20 million cubic feet gas has been completed at a cost $15 million and is expected to generate an annual revenue of $31m.

The facility was commissioned on Dec 5 last year by commencing production from Taulanj X-1 and Taulanj West-1 gas wells, the biggest discovery in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Thal Block. It is owned by MOL Pakistan Oil and Gas Company BV, a subsidiary of MOL group.

Abbasi termed the project a classic example of public-private partnership which would meet needs of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“I encourage other business groups, corporate entities, foreign investors to follow the course as Pakistan is fast becoming an ideal country for investment from business point of view. The facility is a major headway in meeting Pakistan’s growing energy demands,” the premier said.

Dr Berislav Gaso, Executive Vice President Upstream of the MOL group, said that his group had already invested over $1 billion in Pakistan’s oil and gas sector and its direct subsidiary, MOL Pakistan, had been in Pakistan since 1999.

“For two decades, MOL Pakistan has been playing a proactive role in the country’s oil and gas sector through its discoveries of fuel to mitigate the energy crisis in the country. With the launch of the Taulanj gas processing facility, we look forward to making more large-scale investments in Pakistan with the cooperation of the government,” he said.

“It is projects like the Taulanj processing facility that reshape the lives of communities by creating job opportunities and encouraging the economy of the region,” the regional adviser commented.

MOL Pakistan’s CEO Graham Balchin, speaking on the occasion, said “For us, the successful operation of this processing plant is of utmost importance. After thorough inspections, retesting and replacement of several components, Taulanj processing facility has started operations. All these measures have given confidence to all stakeholders for safe, sustainable and long-term operations of the facility.”

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2018