ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has approved the construction of five liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals by groups that include Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell, aiming to triple imports and ease the country’s chronic gas shortage.
The five terminals could be in operation within two to three years, Omar Ayub Khan, Pakistan’s minister of power and petroleum, said in an interview on Friday.
Pakistan is chronically short of gas for power production and to supply manufacturers such as fertilizer makers, hobbling the country’s economy.
“It will make a significant dent in the gas shortage,” Khan said.
The groups Pakistan selected to build terminals are: Tabeer Energy, a unit of Mitsubishi Corp; Exxon and Energas; Trafigura Group and Pakistan GasPort; Shell and Engro Corp. ; and Gunvor Group and Fatima.
The identities of the five groups were reported earlier by Bloomberg.
Exxon Mobil, Shell among groups to build 5 Pakistan LNG terminals
Exxon Mobil, Shell among groups to build 5 Pakistan LNG terminals
- Terminals could be in operation within two to three years
- Pakistan is chronically short of gas for power production and to supply manufacturers
Pakistan arrests suspect arriving from Cambodia amid crackdown on human smuggling
- Suspect worked at an “online fraud company” in Cambodia, later started smuggling people from Pakistan, says FIA
- Pakistan has intensified crackdown against human smugglers after hundreds of migrants drowned near Pylos in 2023
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Sunday said it had arrested a key suspect involved in smuggling humans who had arrived from Cambodia, alleging he was also part of an international fraud network.
The suspect, identified as Zainullah, was arrested by FIA officials when he arrived in the southern port city of Karachi from Cambodia.
Zainullah had traveled from Pakistan to Cambodia in September 2024, a press release issued by the agency said.
“He worked at an online fraud company in Cambodia and later became involved as an agent in recruiting individuals from Pakistan,” the FIA said.
The FIA said it recovered images of multiple individuals’ passports, payment receipts and bank transaction records after extracting data from Zainullah’s phone.
It said the suspect received money through personal bank accounts and a cryptocurrency account.
“The suspect has been handed over to the FIA Anti-Human Trafficking Circle, Karachi, for further legal proceedings,” the FIA said.
“Further investigation is underway.”
Pakistan intensified action against illegal migration in 2023 after hundreds of migrants, including 262 Pakistanis, drowned when an overcrowded vessel sank off the Greek town of Pylos, one of the deadliest boat disasters in the Mediterranean.
Authorities say they continue to target networks sending citizens abroad through dangerous routes, following heightened scrutiny at airports and a series of arrests involving forged documents.
Pakistan’s interior ministry said this week illegal migration to Europe has declined by 47 percent this year after its nationwide crackdown, saying that more than 1,700 human smugglers have been arrested in 2025.
