Pakistani Stream: Russia Goes South – Just Beginning

Sergey Savchuk

The foreign press reports that Russia continues to work to build up its strategic presence in key points on the world map. In this case, we are not talking about the army and the navy. It is about energy and specifically about the “Pakistani Stream”.The other day in Islamabad, a bilateral meeting ended, at which groups of technical specialists from both countries confirmed their readiness to implement the project, for which the development and coordination of technical issues and documentation will continue. The main difference from the memorandums of previous meetings is that geological exploration will begin along the route of the potential gas pipeline. That is, the future pipe makes its first step from paper to the ground.

Initially, the idea of ​​the project arose at a difficult time. In 2015, an intergovernmental agreement was signed on the development and construction of the North-South gas pipeline. With a length of almost 1,100 kilometers and a cost of about $ 2 billion. The implication was that Russian contractors would build a transit line from the port of Karachi to the city of Lahore. The peculiarity of the technical idea was that it was necessary to additionally build a regasification terminal in the port. There LNG would be delivered using sea LNG carriers. After being transferred back to a volatile state, it would go strictly north to the Punjab province.

For the next two years, the project moved very slowly. The parties could not agree on the size of tariffs for pumping gas. It is noteworthy that Russia demanded an increase in cost, otherwise the project was economically unprofitable. Then the next US sanctions were imposed on the Rostec corporation, the key executor on the part of Russia. That further impeded the implementation. 

Renaming the project – Pakistani Stream

Last fall, the parties revised the terms of the agreement again. This time exclusively at the request of Islamabad. The share of Pakistan’s participation in the project has grown from 51 to 74 percent. The condition of attracting and using only Russian materials, components and equipment is strictly stipulated. It was decided that Russia’s investment will not exceed 25 percent. Pakistan will cover all other costs. In the spring of this year, the project was renamed “Pakistani Stream”. The energy ministers of both countries announced their readiness to start construction in the very near future.

Pakistan is a country with a population of over 220 million. If you mark on tracing paper the location of all Pakistan’s power plants, and then superimpose this tracing paper on a physical map of the country, a critical imbalance will be visible to the naked eye. 20 stations operating on oil products. 22 thermal power plants operating on natural gas. Nine coal and three nuclear power plants. Pakistan needs light in the homes of its citizens and reliable sources of energy.

The implementation of the “Pakistani Stream” with a capacity of 12.4 billion cubic meters of gas per year will provide fuel for new power plants. That, in turn, will feed industrial enterprises concentrated in Punjab, on the border with India. If the project turns out to be successful, nothing prevents the gas pipeline from being extended to the capital. The transport shoulder from the city of Multan to Islamabad is just over four hundred kilometers.

Possible avalanche of global transformation

There is not the slightest doubt that the revitalization of the region is connected both with the political changes in Afghanistan and with the completion of the construction of Nord Stream 2. Russia has clearly shown that it is capable of completing any projects, even under the pressure of massive sanctions. India is striving to become the main metallurgical power in the world It simultaneously needs the iron ore of Afghanistan, coking coal and blue fuel from Russia. Pakistan wants to reach a new level of industrial development. This again requires natural gas, and all neighboring countries themselves are experiencing a deficit in it and clearly do not intend to share it with Islamabad. 

Afghanistan, in principle, is ready to absorb any amount of resources, since the electrification of the country, thanks to the incessant war, is at a medieval level.The American withdrawal from Afghanistan was the stone that moved an avalanche of global transformation. If the Taliban manage to keep the country from another all-out war of all against all, then in the very near future we will witness a battle for new energy, trade and industrial markets.