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Pakistan suffers about 12 hours of power cuts per day

Pakistan plans 1,000 MW electricity imports from Iran

IRAN, August 12, 2015

Pakistan is in the final stages of negotiating a deal that will increase its electricity imports from Iran to 1,000 MW, said Zafar Yab Khan, the spokesman for Pakistan’s Ministry of Water and Power, was quoted as saying in a report.

Iran currently exports around 100 MW of electricity to the areas of Pakistan that border Iran, the Peninsula Qatar report said.

The trade between Pakistan and Iran was worth $1.3 billion in the financial year 2008 – 2009, but has since fallen to $217 million in the 2013-2014 financial year.

Energy-starved Pakistan suffers about 12 hours of power cuts per day and is keen to import Iranian oil and gas, said Robina Athar, additional secretary in Pakistan's Ministry of Commerce.

She said the biggest issue right now is the payment mechanism.

Both central banks are in communication and hope to find a mechanism before sanctions are lifted, she added.

Athar said Pakistan was upgrading its current border post with Iran and preparing to open a second one in anticipation of greater trade.

Iran was interested in Pakistani textiles, surgical goods, sports goods and agricultural products, while Pakistan wanted energy products, iron and steel, she added.

Plans for a gas pipeline between Iran and Pakistan have also been given new impetus, said Mobin Saulat, head of state-run Inter State Gas Systems, which oversees the Pakistan’s pipeline network.

Most of the pipeline - stretching from Pakistan’s industrial heartland of Punjab to a planned terminal for liquefied natural gas at Gwadar port in the south - would be built as part of the Chinese project, Saulat said.




Tags: Iran | Electricity | Pakistan | Imports | 1 | 000 MW |

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