Dutch Vopak buys stake in Pakistan’s 1st LNG terminal

Dutch tank storage company Vopak signed a deal with Engro Corp to buy a 29 percent stake in Pakistan’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) import facility.

Vopak said on Friday it will invest in Elenergy Terminal Pakistan, whose subsidiary Engro Elenergy Terminal (EETPL) operates the LNG terminal that includes a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) located in the country’s Port Qasim.

Financial details were not disclosed.

The LNG import facility has been in operation since 2015 and it consists of an LNG jetty including a 7.5 km high-pressure gas pipeline.

This pipeline is connected to the grid of EETPL’s sole customer Sui Southern Gas Company, a Pakistan government-owned entity. EETPL holds a 15-year FSRU time charter.

The facility is located close to the Engro Vopak chemical storage terminal jointly owned by the two companies.

After completion of this transaction, the shareholders in ETPL will be Engro Corporation, Vopak and the International Finance Corporation.

The acquisition is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2018.

“This new step in our cooperation gives Vopak an excellent entry in the growing Pakistan LNG market. This fits very well our ambitions to grow and diversify our service offering in LNG,” Eelco Hoekstra, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of Royal Vopak, said.

Pakistan is a market with more than 200 million people and has a growing energy demand in which the share of gas is expected to increase, the Vopak statement reads.

Gas is mainly used for power supply for the growing population, industrial usage and as feedstock for fertilizers.