Shell receives gas marketing license
Aftab Ahmed
Islamabad: The Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has awarded a ‘gas-marketing license’ to Shell Energy Pakistan (Pvt) Limited. Shell Energy Pakistan (Pvt) Limited has been incorporated with the aim of carrying out downstream gas marketing activities in Pakistan.
It aims to aggregate demand from customers and secure competitive international supply to meet such demand. After evaluating its credentials OGRA has granted rights to Shell Energy Pakistan to market gas to interested customers.
Third-party access to gas import and distribution infrastructure is necessary for creating a competitive and developed gas market. For Shell Energy Pakistan to bring competitive and reliable LNG into the country and re-gasify to help meet growing demand in Pakistan, it needs the support of the Government and other industry stakeholders in particular Port Qasim Authority (PQA), Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) for access to infrastructure.
Meanwhile, the Country Chair of Shell in Pakistan– Haroon Rashid stated “We are very grateful to OGRA for approving the gas marketing license for Shell Energy Pakistan (Private) Limited. This is a significant step in the right direction and we look forward to more policy and infrastructural support enabling Shell to begin importing LNG to meet peak demand in the coming winter.’
Moreover, around the world countries are adopting net-zero emissions targets and seeking to create lower-carbon energy systems. Natural gas emits between 45% and 55% fewer greenhouse gas emissions and less than one-tenth of the air pollutants than coal when used to generate electricity.
As the cleanest-burning fossil fuel, natural gas and LNG have a central role to play in delivering the energy the world needs and helping power progress towards these targets.
Shell Pakistan has been struggling for a long to obtain a marketing license in Pakistan. After a license, it will import and market LNG in Pakistan. At present, two parties are building LNG terminals in Pakistan.
