SINGAPORE: The country’s demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) could more than triple in the next three to five years, the chief executive of Pakistan LNG Ltd (PLL) said on Wednesday.

Last year, the country imported nearly 7 million tonnes of LNG, data from Refinitiv Eikon show. This year, that could grow to as high as 15m and up to 25-30m tonnes over the next three to five years, said PLL’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Adnan Gilani.

PLL is a state-owned company that buys LNG from the international market to supply to the domestic market.

Both of Pakistan’s existing LNG terminals are currently nearly fully utilised while another two are expected to announce a final investment decision this year.

The two import terminals have a regas capacity of 1.2-1.3 billion cubic feet of gas per day, or about 9-10m tonnes of LNG a year, according to Gilani’s presentation at the LNGA 2019 conference in Singapore.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2019