Pakistan North-South Gas Pipeline to Open New Market for Russia

Pakistani Ambassador to Russia Zaheer Janjua said that the construction of the pipeline will provide orders for Russian industrial enterprises and will contribute to an increase in non-oil exports.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The new gas pipeline between Russia and Pakistan will open up markets for Russian companies, Pakistani Ambassador to Russia Zaheer Janjua told Sputnik on Friday.

Earlier in the day, the Russian Energy Ministry said that Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and Pakistan’s Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi signed an agreement on the North-South gas pipeline.

"The construction of the pipeline will provide orders for Russian industrial enterprises and will contribute to an increase in non-oil exports. The project will open up a new market for Russian companies," Janjua said.

The project will cost an estimated $2 billion and take 42 months to complete, according to the ambassador.

The project includes the construction of liquefied natural gas terminals as well as the actual 683-mile pipeline beginning in southern Pakistan's Karachi to Lahore in the country's northeast.

The project will be implemented by RT Global Resources, a subsidiary of Rostec technologies corporation from the Russian side and the Inter State Gas Systems (ISGS) from the Pakistani side.

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