The government has decided to develop an indigenous LNG shipping facility, by building the operational capacity of Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) in the next few years.

PNSC, the national flag carrier, will acquire the required vessels to achieve self-sufficiency in this trade in accordance with international standards and commercial requirements.

The import of LNG has been on the rise since the past couple of years to meet the local demand, particularly in the power sector. Its import surged to $3.33 billion in FY19 and $2.45 billion in FY18, however, the supplies were carried out by the importers against high premium rates.

The development of an indigenous shipping facility will help the government reduce a significant amount of money on a long-term basis and generate business for its state-owned company.

Ministry of Maritime Affairs, in this regard, asked PNSC to make a joint-venture setup in the coming months with the private shipping service. It also directed PNSC to develop its internal expertise and capacity of LNG business.

The ministry issued directives to PNSC to carry out all renewed and new G2G bilateral imports agreement on FOB basis through its chartered facility. Also, the payment of this service will be done in Pakistani Rupees instead of Dollars.

Recently, PNSC acquired three vessels to expand local operations mainly to import crude oil and petroleum products. The national flag carrier is also given the mandate to perform shipments of 40 percent oil products for the G2G agreements on C&F basis.