Pakistan energy demand attracts suitors

Significant forecast growth in energy requirements means international firms are interested in the country’s downstream sector, but its upstream is struggling

Pakistan recently signed a second LNG supply agreement with Qatar, and analysts see further opportunities in the country’s growing LNG market. But Pakistan’s prospects for attracting international investment to its upstream oil and gas sector are much dimmer. State-owned Qatar Petroleum (QP) and Pakistan State Oil Company signed a ten-year SPA for the supply of up to 3mn t/yr of LNG starting in 2022. Saad al-Kaabi, Qatar’s energy minister and the president and CEO of QP, cited “Pakistan’s increasing energy demand” when the deal was signed, as well as the country’s “well-established gas market and distribution system”, and “the prospect of it being one of the world’s fastest-growing LNG marke