Russia, Pakistan Sign Agreement on North-South Gas Pipeline Construction

According to Russian Energy Ministry, Energy Minister Alexander Novak and Pakistan’s Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi have signed an intergovernmental agreement on the North-South gas pipeline.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and Pakistan’s Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi have signed an intergovernmental agreement on the North-South gas pipeline, the Russian Energy Ministry informs.

"The construction of the ‘North-South’ gas pipeline is bringing trade-economic cooperation between Russia and Pakistan to a new level," Novak said as quoted in the ministry’s Friday statement.

According to Abbasi, the new pipeline will be a major step in solving the problem of energy resource deficit in Pakistan’s central and northern regions, which is hampering Pakistan’s economic growth.

In December 2014, RT Global Resources, a subsidiary of Russia's state technologies corporation Rostec, and the Pakistani Inter State Gas System (ISGS) announced a project to build oil and gas infrastructure in Pakistan.

The project includes the construction of liquefied natural gas terminals as well as the 683-mile North-South pipeline, stretching from southern Pakistan's Karachi to Lahore in the country's northeast.

The pipeline is expected to have an annual capacity of up to 12.4 billion cubic meters of gas.