Lucky Group forms joint venture for LNG terminal

A joint venture comprising leading cement producer Lucky Group along with, Sapphire group and Hallmore Power, is planning to set up a liquid natural gas (LNG) terminal at Port Qasim near Karachi to facilitate import of liquid gas in country.

Port Qasim Authority (PQA) Chairman Agha Jan Akhtar told media that the consortium is expected to set-up a floating ship re-gasification unit (FRSU) with a capacity of 600msft³ per day.

LNG wil be imported and marketed by themselves as there is no tolling agreement with the government. However, they would be using the national grid system of two gas utilities – Sui Southern and Northern gas pipelines, the PQA chairman added.

There is a possibility that they would be using imported LNG for their own projects because both the groups already have their own cement and power plants in the country which are using other costly fuels. Mr Jan said if this goes well it would mean that in total there would be six LNG terminals at Port Qasim, with a handling capacity of 3600msft³ per day.