A few months ago, the Pakistani government signed a 10-year contract with Qatar to import 30 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG). The current agreement with Doha is the result of amendments to a similar agreement that Pakistan signed with Qatar a few years ago (a 20-year agreement) for the import of liquefied natural gas. The new gas contract with Qatar is better and more cost-effective, and gas prices are to be negotiated every four years. Amendment to the former gas contract with Qatar and the signing of a new contract will save $ 300 million annually in Pakistani gas purchases.(Photo quoted from Yahoo’s image)

In addition, the increase in Pakistani gas imports from Qatar comes as the two countries continue to pursue feasibility and engineering studies for the Gusa Straight Line gas line project from Qatar to Pakistan. In fact, natural gas accounts for almost a significant portion of Pakistan's total energy portfolio. Pakistan's demand is based on forecasts that the demand for gas in Pakistan is growing every year.

This is while, despite the lack of domestic resources, the gap between gas supply and demand, insufficient fuel for power plants and the lack of electricity, the government has put all the necessary solutions such as gas imports on the agenda to solve this problem.

So, over the past decade, Pakistani leaders have turned their attention to receiving gas from other countries. Several routes have been considered in this regard:

The first is the TAPI pipeline route, which transports Turkmen gas from Afghanistan to Pakistan. But this path still faces challenges in construction and implementation. The second route was Iranian gas, which was to be transported from Assaluyeh through two channels, one to central Pakistan and the other to India. But before and after the ratification of the Iran-Pakistan gas agreement, there was pressure on Pakistan to withdraw from the pipeline. Economic sanctions against Iran also prevented Pakistanis from continuing the project due to sanctions.

The third route was to receive gas from Qatar. But the problem was that Qatar had no land connection with Pakistan. Therefore, they paid more attention to importing liquefied gas. On the other hand, Islamabad intends to increase political and trade cooperation with Qatar by signing a liquefied natural gas export contract from Qatar to Pakistan.

 In fact, gas can help increase the scope of political, political-military cooperation and contacts at the highest levels of government between Doha and Islamabad. What is clear is that energy shortages in Pakistan are the cause of declining economic growth in Pakistan, and the country needs to compensate for its severe energy shortages by importing gas.

However, many in Pakistan believe that gas imported from Qatar is not enough to solve the energy shortage crisis, and that major projects, including the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline, need to be completed. But the reality is that as long as Iran has a problem with the West, the Pakistanis will continue to make Qatari gas a top priority.

Farzad Ramezani Bonesh

Senior Researcher and Analyst of International Affairs