ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant on Petroleum Nadeem Babar on Friday said the ten year LNG contract signed with Qatar was thirty one percent cheaper compared to the previous agreements.

“It is the lowest publicly disclosed LNG contract in terms of price in the world,” he said addressing a news conference in Islamabad.

The special assistant said the deal would help the country save 316 million rupees annually. It will make a difference of three billion dollars for ten years, he added.

He said the previous agreement with Qatar was for fifteen years under which the price was fixed for ten years. He said the new agreement however envisages price reopening after four years.

Nadeem Babar said under the previous agreement, the letter of credit worth 170 million dollars was given to Qatar but under the new arrangement eighty four million rupees will be given to the fraternal country.

“Under the new agreement, the country will receive two LNG ships on average per month and in a period of three years, the number of ships will increase to four,” he said.

He said the new agreement will be effective from January next year. However, there is a provision that the country can get the LNG by the end of this year.

Pakistan and Qatar signed a ten-year LNG agreement in Islamabad on Friday. The signing ceremony was witnessed by Prime Minister Imran Khan.