KARACHI: Pakistan and Russia on Monday began three-day-long negotiations to finalize an agreement to start work on the over $2 billion North-South Gas Pipeline Project (NSGPP), a Pakistani energy ministry official said.
The agreement will be the latest in a series of energy-related pacts between Pakistan and Russia, former Cold War foes who have grown closer in recent years.
The North-South pipeline to deliver gas from Pakistan’s coastal regions to industrial areas in the north has been held up since 2015 due to a disagreement over fees and United States sanctions against Russian state conglomerate Rostec.
An official at the Pakistani energy ministry’s petroleum division confirmed to Arab News on Monday that the visiting Russian delegation had arrived. It will remain in Pakistani until November 18 for wide ranging talks on the pipeline project.
Last week, Sajid Mehmood Qazi, the spokesman of Pakistan’s Ministry of Energy, told Arab News that discussions with Russia were at an “advanced stage” and Pakistan hoped that an inter-governmental agreement would “materialize” soon.
The cost of the 1,100-kilometer-long project was initially estimated at $2 billion, with an annual capacity to transport 12.4 billion cubic feet of gas from Karachi in the north of the country to Lahore in the south.
The energy ministry spokesman had declined to share the exact cost of the project, saying the design of the pipeline had changed since it was first conceived.
“It is now not the pipeline which was initially designed, with 42 inches diameter,” Qazi had said. “Now it would be 48 or 56 inches and according to the new estimates of its compressor size and technical requirements, its cost could be anything between $2 and $3 billion ... but I can’t say exactly about it at this stage”.
The energy ministry spokesman said the government was eager to “make progress” on the project before the next year.
Indigenous natural gas contributes around 38 percent to Pakistan’s total primary energy supply mix. Pakistan produces around 4 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) against an unconstrained demand of 6 bcfd and imports gas to meet the deficit, particularly when demand peaks in winters.
The North-South pipeline would be the biggest infrastructure deal with Russia since the early 1970s, when the Soviet Union set up the Pakistan Steel Mills industrial complex at Port Qasim, near Karachi.
Apart from the North-South pipeline project, Pakistani officials also say work is being expedited on the multibillion-dollar Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project to import gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan and Pakistan up to Pakistan’s border with India.
Russian delegation arrives in Pakistan for three-day talks on pipeline project
https://arab.news/b9ksq
Russian delegation arrives in Pakistan for three-day talks on pipeline project
- The North-South project, estimated to cost over $2 billion, will deliver gas from Pakistan’s coastal regions to industrial areas in the north
- Pipeline has been held up since 2015 due to disagreement over fees and US sanctions against Russian state conglomerate Rostec
Pakistan’s president defends ongoing strikes in Afghanistan, urges Kabul to dismantle militants
- Afghanistan on Thursday launched attacks in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes the previous Sunday
- Pakistan’s military says it is only targeting Afghan military installations to avoid civilian casualties
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s president on Monday defended his country’s ongoing military strikes in neighboring Afghanistan, saying Islamabad tried all forms of diplomacy before targeting militants operating from Afghan territory, and called on the Taliban government in Kabul to disarm groups responsible for attacks in Pakistan.
Pakistan earlier said it is in “open war” with Afghanistan, alarming the international community. The border area remains a stronghold for militant organizations including Al-Qaeda and the Daesh (Islamic State) group.
“(The Afghan Taliban) must choose to dismantle the terror groups that survive on conflict and its war economy,” Asif Ali Zardari said during a speech to lawmakers, adding that “no state accepts serial attacks on its soil.”
Afghanistan on Thursday launched attacks in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes the previous Sunday. Since then, Pakistan has carried out operations along the border, with Information Minister Attaullah Tarar claiming the killing of 435 Afghan forces and the capture of 31 Afghan positions.
Kabul has denied such claims.
In Afghanistan, the deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said Pakistan’s military fired mortar shells at a refugee camp in eastern Kunar province, killing three children and injuring three others.
Afghanistan’s defense ministry said Afghan forces carried out strikes targeting a Pakistani military facility near Paktia province, causing “substantial losses and heavy casualties.”
Pakistan’s military did not respond to questions. It has said Pakistan is only targeting Afghan military installations to avoid civilian casualties.
Pakistan has witnessed a surge of violence in recent months and blames it on the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP. It operates both inside Pakistan and from Afghan territory.
Islamabad accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban government of providing safe havens for the TTP, which Kabul denies.
The latest cross-border fighting ended a ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkiye in October. The two sides failed to reach a permanent agreement during talks in Istanbul.
Zardari reiterated Pakistan’s call for talks, saying, “We have never walked away from dialogue.”
The Pakistani leader again accused Afghanistan of acting as a proxy for India by sheltering militant groups.
“Stop being used by another country as a battlefield for their ambitions,” he said.
Zardari cited a recent report from the United Nations Security Council’s monitoring team that described the presence of militant groups in Afghanistan as an extra-regional threat.
