ISLAMABAD: The Petroleum Division and Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) have reportedly resisted pressure from the Executive Committee (EC) of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) regarding the proposed 10-year Gas Sale Agreement (GSA) with National Steel Complex Limited (NSCL), well-informed sources told Newzshewz.
On March 13, 2025, the EC expressed serious concern over the non-compliance with its earlier decisions from December 11, 2024, and January 22, 2025. These directives called for the completion of all formalities by January 31, 2025, to enable NSCL to proceed with financial closure (with U.S. banks) and fulfill its obligations to its offtaker, Sojitz Corporation (Japan). The provision of gas was to be ensured no later than January 31, 2025.
Sources said that the Petroleum Division informed the EC that a draft summary for the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet regarding the gas supply to NSCL had been circulated for comments among the Ministries of Finance, Planning, Industries, and the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA). Comments were received, but the ECC’s final approval is still pending.
The forum noted that the already processed summary does not align with the decisions made during the 11th and 12th EC meetings, which followed extensive deliberations.
After detailed discussion, the EC directed the Petroleum Division to immediately revise and submit the summary in accordance with those prior decisions, and to seek the ECC’s formal approval. It was further directed that the GSA between SSGC and NSCL for a 10-year gas supply be signed no later than March 31, 2025.
High placed sources told that SSGC has not signed any GSA with NSCL, meaning thereby that the instructions of SIFC-EC has not been honoured by both the Petroleum Division and SSGC.
A separate matter concerning the continuation of the LPG and Liquid Chemical Terminal at Port Qasim Authority (PQA), it was reported that PQA and Engro Vopak Terminal Limited (EVTL) signed the second Supplemental Implementation Agreement (SIA) on January 15, 2025, and the third SIA on February 24, 2025. EVTL submitted its initial proposal on January 15, 2025.
Multiple meetings were held between the PQA and EVTL teams in the presence of representatives from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs (MoMA), SIFC, and the Ministry of Energy (MoE). A detailed analysis of EVTL’s operational model, financial statements, and contractual obligations was conducted to verify the model’s credibility. Following this, EVTL submitted its final proposal on February 26, 2025.
Subsequently, on February 27, 2025, the PQA Board recommended extending EVTL’s concession term by an additional 30 years from June 18, 2026, on a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) and non-exclusive basis, subject to approval from MoMA and SIFC.
Sources said that the SIFC-EC endorsed the PQA Board’s decision and instructed MoMA to immediately process the summary for final approval from the Federal Cabinet through the Cabinet Committee on SIFC (CCoSIFC), without further delay.
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