No Country Provided Free Crude Oil To Pakistan So Far: Senate Told

Minister for Power Division Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari on Tuesday informed the Senate that no country, including Saudi Arabia, had provided crude oil to Pakistan free or on concessional rate so far except on deferred payment

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 07th Nov, 2017 ) :Minister for Power Division Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari on Tuesday informed the Senate that no country, including Saudi Arabia, had provided crude oil to Pakistan free or on concessional rate so far except on deferred payment.

Replying to various queries during the Question Hour, the minister said the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia did not provided free of charge crude oil to Pakistan during 2008-2010. No foreign country was currently providing crude oil to Pakistan at lower than the market price, he added.

To a question, he said Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline would start from the onshore gas processing facility at Assaluyeh in Iran to transverse a distance of 1150 km up to the Iran-Pakistan border, which would be built and operated by Iran.

The Pakistan section of the pipeline (781 km) was to be laid closely to the Makran costal highway from Iran Pakistan border up to Pakistan off-take point at Nawabshah, he added. He said the gas volume was 750 MMcfd and the government was committed to the execution of the Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline Project.

However, due to international sanctions on Iran, Pakistan issued Force Majeure notice to Iran in March 2014. In view thereof Pakistan proposed to amend the Gas Sales and Purchase Agreement (GSPA) enabling the parties to complete their respective sections of the pipelines within the extended period, he added.

The minister said the project came under discussion during the visit of President of Iran to Pakistan in March 2016. Both sides agreed to resolve all outstanding issues, he added. He said the approval of the competent authority had been sought to negotiate amendment in the GSPA with Iran.

To a supplementary question, he said Iran had already been providing electricity to Gwadar through 132 KV transmission line. Now the Cabinet's Committee on Energy had approved an agreement to get more electricity through 220 KV transmission line for Gwadar till completion of 300-MW coal power plant being set up under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he added.

The minister said the lease contract period of Saindak CopperGold Project (District Chagai, Balochistan) between Saindak Metals Limited (SML) and Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC) had been extended for five years from November 01 , 2017 to October 31, 2022 with the approval of competent authority (Federal Cabinet) and that also with consultation/consent of the Balochistan government.