ISLAMABAD, 16 July 2021, (TON): Islamabad and Moscow have struck a deal for the construction of the PakStream Gas Pipeline after lengthy deliberations.

Federal Energy Minister Hammad Azhar tweeted “The Govt of Pakistan and Russia have agreed upon and signed ‘Head of Terms' of the project.”

He added that shareholding and corporate structure finalised. This project has been suffering from delays since 2015 but effective progress made.”

A 12-member Russian delegation, headed by Department of Foreign Economic Cooperation and Fuel Markets Development Deputy Director AA Tolparov, arrived in Islamabad for talks on the project.

Russia nominated its official company Pakstream Limited, which negotiated with Pakistan's Inter State Gas System (ISGS) for the terms.

Both companies reached consensus on the “Heads of Terms” and on shareholding agreement with Pakistan’s share of 74% and Russian share of 26%.

The present government has signed an LNG deal with Qatar to import 200 mmcfd of gas initially in the beginning of next year that would be enhanced to 400 mmcfd in the coming years. At present, Pakistan is importing 500 mmcfd of gas from Qatar.

Hence, Pakistan needs one more gas pipeline to transport this imported gas to Punjab province. However, despite this, the country has no legal framework to recover the price of imported gas from domestic consumers.