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The Guardian
16-07-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Trump administration dashes hopes of anti-pollution plan for JD Vance's home town
A Biden-era plan to implement a gas-powered blast furnace at a steel mill in Ohio, which would have eliminated tons of greenhouse gases from the local environment year over year and created more than a thousand jobs, has been put on hold indefinitely by the Trump administration. Experts and locals say the setback could greatly affect the health and financial state of those living around the mill. For 13 years, Donna Ballinger has been dealing with blasting noises and layers of dust from coal and heavy metals on her vehicles and house, situated a few hundred yards from the Cleveland-Cliffs-owned Middletown Works steel mill in south-west Ohio. 'I've had sinus infections near constantly. I have COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease],' she says. 'When they've got the big booms going, your whole house is shaking.' So when two years ago, the steel mill successfully trialed a hydrogen gas-powered blast furnace, the first time the fuel had been deployed in this fashion anywhere in the Americas, she was delighted. It cost an estimated $1.6bn, and the Biden administration, through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), coughed up $500m to help cover the cost of installing the technology. Replacing a coal-powered furnace would have eliminated 1m tons of greenhouse gases from the local environment every year, according to Cleveland-Cliffs. It would also have saved the company $450m every year through 'efficiency gains and reduced scrap dependency', and created 1,200 construction and 150 permanent jobs in the town of 50,000 residents who have struggled for decades with manufacturing losses. But last month, the Cleveland-Cliffs CEO, Lourenco Goncalves, announced the plan was on hold. He claimed the lack of development in hydrogen fuel – in part a result of the Trump administration's freezing of a host of Biden-era spending plans – and the Federal Reserve's refusal to lower interest rates – also a byproduct of Trump administration policies – had forced the company to throw out the project as initially devised. Plans were leaked in April that the so-called 'department of government efficiency' (Doge) was going to gut grant programs worth $6.3bn meant to help major manufacturing companies transition to cleaner energy resources. This month, the US Senate voted to close the 45V hydrogen clean-energy tax credit eligibility window in January 2028 – five years earlier than originally set. 'It's a setback that they are saying they are going to abandon the hydrogen part of this project, as it is the most exciting part of it,' says Hilary Lewis, steel director at Industrious Labs, an environmental organization promoting decarbonization. 'That the project is going to be changed is a big concern. In large part, we agree with Cleveland-Cliffs, in that when the government abandoned its commitments to clean hydrogen tax credits … it makes it harder for companies to plan their investments.' Cleveland-Cliffs did not respond to the Guardian's requests for comment. The move will probably upend Middletown's hopes of leading a nationwide manufacturing revolution – part of a wider goal that the vice-president and Middletown native JD Vance has claimed to support. Vance's grandfather, Jim, worked at Middletown Works, which makes steel for automobiles, appliances and other industries, and is considered by the vice-president as keeping his family financially afloat when he was a child. 'I blame Cleveland-Cliffs and the government,' says Ballinger, sitting in a car in the driveway of her home as sounds from the steel plant echoed all around. She believes Vance should have done more to keep the hydrogen project alive: 'He should be working with everyone to help it be better for us who have to live in this on a daily basis, to make it healthier for everybody to live. 'It's very upsetting because I'm more worried about everybody's health around here. It's already bad. We were hoping for something that was going to make it better.' Hydrogen has been seen as a potential cornerstone clean-energy replacement for fuel sources in trades such as aerospace, manufacturing and other heavy industries. Three liquid hydrogen plants in Georgia, Tennessee and Louisiana owned by Power Plug, the largest producer in the US, are making about 40 tons a day. The Korean auto manufacturer Hyundai plans to spend $6bn on a hydrogen-integrated steel mill, also in Louisiana. But delays attributed to limited availability of clean energy to power electrolyzers, higher-than-expected production costs and market and political forces have put the rollout of clean hydrogen fuel on the back foot. Power Plug has generated billions of dollars of losses, and government support for advancing blue and green hydrogen – at the state or federal level – is essential to fueling a decarbonization transition, say industry leaders. At $7bn, the Biden-era project to support the development of seven regional clean hydrogen hubs across the US is reportedly in jeopardy, with the Department of Energy in March considering ending four of those projects located in Democratic-leaning states. Taken together, some residents say the moves could have serious health implications for those living close to fossil fuel-powered industrial plants in Middletown and beyond. 'So much so that life expectancy in the area of town that is impacted by the pollution is 10 years less than the east end of town that aren't impacted by it. A big part of that, of course, is pollution,' says Scotty Robertson, a pastor who lives several miles from Middletown Works. 'Most of the people impacted by the pollution and the implications of the [Middletown Works] clean-energy project ending are people that live paycheck to paycheck and can only be concerned by making sure they have enough money to pay their bills. There are some people talking about it, but I don't think people will feel the impact until jobs start disappearing.' Suffering losses of $483m in the first quarter of 2025, Cleveland-Cliffs has laid off thousands of workers at facilities across the region in recent months. While no cuts to jobs at Middletown Works have yet been announced, it faces some of the same infrastructural issues as those being idled elsewhere. The city of Middletown previously said that the clean-hydrogen investment would 'position Middletown Works as the most advanced, lowest [greenhouse gas]-emitting integrated iron and steel facility in the world' when it was announced in March 2024. This week, a representative of Middletown declined to respond to questions from the Guardian, including whether Vance should be doing more to help with the health and economic development of his home town. City leadership has been largely split on ways to honor Vance's political rise. Others are clear about what ending the hydrogen aspect of the project will mean for Middletown. A 2024 report by Industrious Labs, using data from the Environmental Protection Agency and other organizations from 2020, found that air pollution in Middletown was responsible for up to 67 premature deaths, more than 20,000 cases of asthma symptoms and more than 6,000 school loss days annually. 'I have seen first-hand the effects of pollution caused by fossil fuels,' says Robertson, who grew up in the coalfields of southern West Virginia and is running for a seat on the Middletown city council in November. 'I think that as time goes on, you'll see more and more the implications of these policies, which are anti-local.'
The Guardian
15-07-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Trump administration dashes hopes of anti-pollution plan for JD Vance's home town
A Biden-era plan to implement a gas-powered blast furnace at a steel mill in Ohio, which would have eliminated tons of greenhouse gases from the local environment year over year and created more than a thousand jobs, has been put on hold indefinitely by the Trump administration. Experts and locals say the setback could greatly affect the health and financial state of those living around the mill. For 13 years, Donna Ballinger has been dealing with blasting noises and layers of dust from coal and heavy metals on her vehicles and house, situated a few hundred yards from the Cleveland-Cliffs-owned Middletown Works steel mill in south-west Ohio. 'I've had sinus infections near constantly. I have COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease],' she says. 'When they've got the big booms going, your whole house is shaking.' So when two years ago, the steel mill successfully trialed a hydrogen gas-powered blast furnace, the first time the fuel had been deployed in this fashion anywhere in the Americas, she was delighted. It cost an estimated $1.6bn, and the Biden administration, through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), coughed up $500m to help cover the cost of installing the technology. Replacing a coal-powered furnace would have eliminated 1m tons of greenhouse gases from the local environment every year, according to Cleveland-Cliffs. It would also have saved the company $450m every year through 'efficiency gains and reduced scrap dependency', and created 1,200 construction and 150 permanent jobs in the town of 50,000 residents who have struggled for decades with manufacturing losses. But last month, the Cleveland-Cliffs CEO, Lourenco Goncalves, announced the plan was on hold. He claimed the lack of development in hydrogen fuel – in part a result of the Trump administration's freezing of a host of Biden-era spending plans – and the Federal Reserve's refusal to lower interest rates – also a byproduct of Trump administration policies – had forced the company to throw out the project as initially devised. Plans were leaked in April that the so-called 'department of government efficiency' (Doge) was going to gut grant programs worth $6.3bn meant to help major manufacturing companies transition to cleaner energy resources. This month, the US Senate voted to close the 45V hydrogen clean-energy tax credit eligibility window in January 2028 – five years earlier than originally set. 'It's a setback that they are saying they are going to abandon the hydrogen part of this project, as it is the most exciting part of it,' says Hilary Lewis, steel director at Industrious Labs, an environmental organization promoting decarbonization. 'That the project is going to be changed is a big concern. In large part, we agree with Cleveland-Cliffs, in that when the government abandoned its commitments to clean hydrogen tax credits … it makes it harder for companies to plan their investments.' Cleveland-Cliffs did not respond to the Guardian's requests for comment. The move will probably upend Middletown's hopes of leading a nationwide manufacturing revolution – part of a wider goal that the vice-president and Middletown native JD Vance has claimed to support. Vance's grandfather, Jim, worked at Middletown Works, which makes steel for automobiles, appliances and other industries, and is considered by the vice-president as keeping his family financially afloat when he was a child. 'I blame Cleveland-Cliffs and the government,' says Ballinger, sitting in a car in the driveway of her home as sounds from the steel plant echoed all around. She believes Vance should have done more to keep the hydrogen project alive: 'He should be working with everyone to help it be better for us who have to live in this on a daily basis, to make it healthier for everybody to live. 'It's very upsetting because I'm more worried about everybody's health around here. It's already bad. We were hoping for something that was going to make it better.' Hydrogen has been seen as a potential cornerstone clean-energy replacement for fuel sources in trades such as aerospace, manufacturing and other heavy industries. Three liquid hydrogen plants in Georgia, Tennessee and Louisiana owned by Power Plug, the largest producer in the US, are making about 40 tons a day. The Korean auto manufacturer Hyundai plans to spend $6bn on a hydrogen-integrated steel mill, also in Louisiana. But delays attributed to limited availability of clean energy to power electrolyzers, higher-than-expected production costs and market and political forces have put the rollout of clean hydrogen fuel on the back foot. Power Plug has generated billions of dollars of losses, and government support for advancing blue and green hydrogen – at the state or federal level – is essential to fueling a decarbonization transition, say industry leaders. At $7bn, the Biden-era project to support the development of seven regional clean hydrogen hubs across the US is reportedly in jeopardy, with the Department of Energy in March considering ending four of those projects located in Democratic-leaning states. Taken together, some residents say the moves could have serious health implications for those living close to fossil fuel-powered industrial plants in Middletown and beyond. 'So much so that life expectancy in the area of town that is impacted by the pollution is 10 years less than the east end of town that aren't impacted by it. A big part of that, of course, is pollution,' says Scotty Robertson, a pastor who lives several miles from Middletown Works. 'Most of the people impacted by the pollution and the implications of the [Middletown Works] clean-energy project ending are people that live paycheck to paycheck and can only be concerned by making sure they have enough money to pay their bills. There are some people talking about it, but I don't think people will feel the impact until jobs start disappearing.' Suffering losses of $483m in the first quarter of 2025, Cleveland-Cliffs has laid off thousands of workers at facilities across the region in recent months. While no cuts to jobs at Middletown Works have yet been announced, it faces some of the same infrastructural issues as those being idled elsewhere. The city of Middletown previously said that the clean-hydrogen investment would 'position Middletown Works as the most advanced, lowest [greenhouse gas]-emitting integrated iron and steel facility in the world' when it was announced in March 2024. This week, a representative of Middletown declined to respond to questions from the Guardian, including whether Vance should be doing more to help with the health and economic development of his home town. City leadership has been largely split on ways to honor Vance's political rise. Others are clear about what ending the hydrogen aspect of the project will mean for Middletown. A 2024 report by Industrious Labs, using data from the Environmental Protection Agency and other organizations from 2020, found that air pollution in Middletown was responsible for up to 67 premature deaths, more than 20,000 cases of asthma symptoms and more than 6,000 school loss days annually. 'I have seen first-hand the effects of pollution caused by fossil fuels,' says Robertson, who grew up in the coalfields of southern West Virginia and is running for a seat on the Middletown city council in November. 'I think that as time goes on, you'll see more and more the implications of these policies, which are anti-local.'
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Steel is booming in Arkansas — so why are so many people still struggling to get by?
OSCEOLA, Ark. — The church was initially told to prepare for 20 people. But in the end nearly 100 show up, mostly Black men, to hear about the Arkansas steel mill offering six-figure jobs. As newcomers trickle in, a deacon goes in search of more folding chairs. 'When you get paid this amount, we just can't give it to anybody,' says Robert Potter, a supervisor at Hybar, the local steel company hosting the event. He warns that the jobs can be hot and dirty. 'We're looking for the best people for the best job.' Hybar needs 154 employees for its new mill opening next month — engineers, security guards, cafeteria workers — but many of those jobs were already filled before the church event, which was billed as a career readiness workshop. Sterling Winston, a man in his late 30s and wearing a baseball cap, speaks up during the Q&A. He has already interviewed twice at the plant without getting hired, he tells the room. 'But I'm still here,' he says. 'I ain't giving up. For Mississippi County, Arkansas, the booming steel industry is an economic lifeline. In the last decade, billions of dollars have flowed in to expand mills or open new ones, and it's often hailed as the top steel-producing county in the country. Last year, a $3 billion mill came online, employing hundreds, the largest private investment in Arkansas history. And as President Donald Trump seeks to reshape the United States into a 'manufacturing powerhouse,' some industry groups say steel is poised to keep growing. But for many residents in this county of roughly 38,000, the promise of the steel boom is still out of reach. In the shadow of the new steel plants, a quarter of residents here live in poverty, more than double the national average. Osceola Mayor Joe Harris says part of the problem is that too many workers are here only temporarily — they're construction workers hired to build the mills or higher-paid steelworkers who live out of town and commute in for part of the week. They compete for scarce affordable housing and too often spend their earnings outside the county. 'If you come here and make your money and leave, that's not good for our city,' he said. For Harris, the boom has been a blessing but not a panacea. 'I don't want to be a little town with billion-dollar industries around it and still suffering.' Osceola's downtown betrays the town's struggles. It's dotted with aging brick buildings, some with doors boarded with plywood. On a late Saturday morning, apart from an errant building crew, it was practically deserted. The downturn dates back to the 1990s, when the Eaker Air Force Base closed and took thousands of residents with it. Other factory closures followed. 'We lost 9,000 jobs in the '90s. We're just beginning to make those up,' said Clif Chitwood, president of the Great River Economic Development Foundation, who spent decades working to recruit new industries to Mississippi County. Hybar sees itself as part of the solution. Wearing a white hard hat at the soon-to-open mill, CEO Dave Stickler gestures below to a worker on the basement floor attending to a maze of piping where hydraulic fluid will flow. 'This was nothing but soybean fields 22 months ago,' he said. Now his investors are looking at opening two more mills, including one in Osceola. Joe Wilkerson, 51, who oversees maintenance in Hybar's melt shop, remembers chopping cotton as a 12-year-old so he could buy clothes for school. 'All I wanted to do is work because we didn't have anything,' he said. He can afford more for his own two children, and recently bought his daughter a new car. Wilkerson lives in the county, but many other workers are just passing through. John Romine, 39, lives near the Louisiana line but comes to the county seasonally with his brother to find work. 'They got the money and we got the tools,' he said. To get to the Hybar mill, he drives to a parking lot near the plant and boards a school bus that transports him to his pipe-fitting shift. Then he returns to his home, a camper in an RV park in Blytheville, another part of the county, about 17 miles away. Almost every lot in the RV park was occupied when NBC News visited him there, with license plates from Tennessee, Virginia, Missouri, Texas and Mississippi. Lisa Willard, who runs the Mississippi County Union Mission, a homeless shelter, said the arrival of temporary and shift workers has made it harder for longtime residents to find affordable housing. Though the steel mills have been charitable, Willard said, the county's dichotomy of affluence and poverty reminds her of visiting another country on vacation. 'On one side you see the beautiful resort; the other side you see the villages,' she said. 'We have the wonderful steel mills. We have this other side as well.' Outside an Osceola soup kitchen, the lunch line moves briskly. Visitors take their food — in this case a lunch of Ro-Tel tomatoes and chiles mixed with spaghetti — to go. Lee Mosley, 48, an electrician, is one of them. 'By the time you pay your rent, it's hard because you ain't got no money to pay the light bill or any other bill or go grocery shopping because you're broke from the bills,' he said, standing outside, plate in hand. Between 2015 and 2023, the most recent data available, median rents here rose by nearly 30%, according to the U.S. census. The number of short-term rentals in the county has nearly tripled from May 2024 to May 2025, according to data from AirDNA, which tracks listings from Airbnb and similar services, as landlords increasingly cater to steel industry workers. 'Housing is a huge need,' said Blytheville Mayor Melisa Logan. 'I used to say a 'housing desert,' but now I'm in a housing crisis.' Logan said she's tried to find solutions to these housing woes. She said she spends time networking with developers and builders, hoping they might bring projects to Blytheville. She's also encouraged by steelmakers' efforts to incentivize full-time employees to stay local. 'If you trust us to come and earn your living,' Logan said, 'you should trust us enough to raise your family.' Roughly half of the county's steelworkers live outside of Mississippi County, according to Chitwood, of the Great River Economic Development Foundation. A new program called 'Work Here, Live Here,' sponsored by Big River Steel Works, Hybar and other companies, will give steel industry workers who stay in their jobs for at least four years up to $50,000 to build or purchase new homes in the area. One hundred and sixty three have already signed up. 'You get these families in. They make the school districts better. They bring in restaurants, hotels,' said Dan Brown, vice president and chief operating officer of Big River Steel Works. 'The community starts building up.' That's not the only effort to help Mississippi County reap the benefits of the boom. The companies say they are eager to recruit local workers. Stickler talks openly about trying to diversify Hybar's ranks. He said he wants the mill to "look very similar to Osceola' when he walks through it. At the local community college, Arkansas Northeastern, students can earn a 'steel degree' or study other trades with help from scholarships. On a recent Friday, workers from a Little Rock-based steel fabricator, Lexicon, were in a community college classroom, practicing how to properly align steel mill machinery. The college's president, Christopher Heigle, looked on. He's fond of telling high school students that they can start making $80,000-$100,000 within years of graduation. Stickler knows he can't hire everyone, but he thinks anyone who wants to should at least have the opportunity to interview at Hybar. That's what the church workshop was about. As Pastor Cleveland Cain stood up to close Saturday's event, dozens of heads bowed. He thanked God for the opportunity. He prayed that it would come to pass. This article was originally published on
Arab News
02-07-2025
- Business
- Arab News
‘Business must cooperate': Russia seeks to double $1.8 billion trade with Pakistan
KARACHI: Russia seeks to double the volume of its bilateral trade with Pakistan, Russian Consul-General Andrey V. Federov said this week, amid a thaw in Moscow-Islamabad ties. Russia and Pakistan, once Cold War rivals, have strengthened ties in recent years, with Islamabad purchasing discounted Russian crude oil and liquefied petroleum gas in 2023 and Moscow now planning to build a new steel mill in Karachi. The two countries traded goods and services worth $236 million from July 2024 till May 2025, compared with $1.04 billion in the same period last year, according to Pakistani central bank data. The volume of their trade rose more than 100 percent to $1.81 billion from July 2023 till June 2024, when Pakistan was facing dollar shortages and imported discounted crude oil from Russia, marking a shift from its traditional reliance on Middle Eastern suppliers. In an interview with Arab News, Federov said this volume can be boosted as the two countries have started implementing the decisions of the 9th meeting of Russia-Pakistan Intergovernmental Commission, held in December, in which they agreed on a protocol for cooperation in the fields of trade, finance, energy, industry and agriculture, transport and infrastructure, business and finance, and science and technology. 'In last five years it (bilateral trade) was duplicated. Now we have one billion US dollars [of trade volume],' the Russian consul-general said, adding that the Russia-Pakistan trade turnover had showed 50 percent growth in the last five years. 'My idea [is] that we can duplicate it once again during my staying here in Karachi.' Federov didn't say when his term is going to end. Moscow could provide machinery, fertilizers, oil and gas, and some lentils and grains as part of agricultural exchange with Pakistan, according to the diplomat. Islamabad could in return supply sports goods, surgical instruments, textiles, pharmacy and kinnows that are 'very, very famous' in Russia. 'Some of the Russian leading agriculture companies are ready to work with Pakistan,' he said. 'There are a lot of things... we can exchange.' Federov said Moscow and Islamabad were working to 'create a bridge' which would stand for decades and that the bilateral trade would be sustained. 'It won't be affected by any political issues. Business must cooperate. Sorry for using this word must, but I insist that business must cooperate,' he said. Another area in which Moscow could help Pakistan was information technology (IT), according to the diplomat. Russia has a very good experience in information security, smart cities and e-government that make life of people much easier. Pakistan's National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) could also assist Russia in data documentation as the South Asian had a 'very good experience in this sphere.' 'World is not easy right now, and there are, as I said, a lot of spheres. We can share our experience and Pakistan also,' Federov said. 'We were together.' Besides economy and trade, Russia and Pakistan saw their interests converging on the issue of last month's Iran-Israel conflict. Together with China, the two countries co-sponsored a resolution in the United Nations, calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East after the conflict killed hundreds on both sides. 'We were together the cosponsors of the UN resolution on Iran situation,' the Russian envoy said. 'Our relations are very close, and we are working hard on many international issues together.' Putin last month interacted with the leaders of Iran, Israel and Pakistan to end the conflict. 'Maybe some, some of the countries are not satisfied with our role, and they want to take part of one side or another side,' the consul-general said, in an apparent reference to the United States (US) which sided with Israel and bombed Iran's nuclear facilities on June 22 before announcing a ceasefire. Federov said Moscow was 'not satisfied' with Israel's behavior in the region. 'But, also, I should say that we have good contacts also not only with Iran and Pakistan. We have good contacts with Israel,' he said. 'We do not break our relations with Israel.' Pakistan and Russia are members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a Eurasian political, economic and security organization, and have had sustained high-level interactions and institutional mechanisms. Federov said the top leadership of Pakistan and Russia had been actively interacting at different international diplomatic forums almost every year. 'Both sides realized that we cannot live without [support from] each other,' he said. Asked about Putin's long-pending visit to Pakistan, Federov said: 'We are all working on that, but we do not know the plans of the president.'
Arab News
01-07-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Russia eyes summer deal with Pakistan for new Karachi steel mill — consul-general
KARACHI: Russia expects to finalize an agreement with Pakistan this summer to build a new steel mill in Karachi, Consul-General Andrey V. Fedorov said on Monday, the first time a Russian official has publicly confirmed the planned project. The new project will mark the revival of Cold War-era industrial cooperation as Islamabad seeks fresh foreign investment and closer ties with Moscow. The Soviet Union built the original Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) in Karachi in the 1970s as the country's flagship state-run industrial complex. Once a symbol of national self-sufficiency, PSM has remained dormant since 2015 due to years of mismanagement, political interference and financial decline. By the end of fiscal year 2024, the mill had posted cumulative losses of Rs255.8 billion ($902 million), with liabilities reaching Rs359.9 billion ($1.27 billion). Despite being non-operational, it still employs more than 3,500 workers. Now, Russian and Pakistani officials are engaged in technical and diplomatic discussions to finalize the framework for a new steel mill. Technical experts from Russia have already inspected the proposed site in Karachi, and another team is expected shortly to advance planning and draft a detailed roadmap. 'The last negotiations were on May 27, so we are working on the final agreement,' Fedorov told Arab News in an interview when asked about the status of the new steel deal. 'Our technical experts examined the facility, so maybe one more team would come soon, just to fix out all the preparations and some of the proposals are on the tables, both of Russian and Pakistani sides … We are ready to prepare a roadmap for the constructions of a new steel mill in Karachi.' Fedorov declined to put a date on when construction would begin but said the teams had discussed a summer deal: 'They were discussing summer, you know, we are in the beginning of summer, so I hope this summer they would come … We would see in nearest time some positive conclusions and we will reach some agreements.' The envoy did not share the volume of investment Russia would look to make in the project but said the two sides would be working together now to prepare 'mutually beneficial contracts and agreements.' 'Practically, a new factory must be erected,' he said. 'Now we should, on the level of experts, discuss that.' PAKISTAN STREAM GAS PIPELINE PROJECT Russia has also built other major industrial facilities in Pakistan, including the Guddu Power Station in Sindh in the 1980s, one of the country's largest electricity sources. Moscow and Islamabad have expanded cooperation in recent years despite geopolitical tensions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Both countries are exploring deeper energy ties, oil and gas supplies, and even tabled a trilateral Russia-Pakistan-China resolution in the UN Security Council last month, seeking a ceasefire in the Middle East. Pakistan, a net energy importer, relies on foreign petroleum and LNG supplies to meet domestic demand. Last year, Islamabad received its first-ever shipment of discounted Russian crude oil, marking a shift from its traditional reliance on Middle Eastern suppliers. Pakistan's local gas reserves are fast depleting. It imported over $4 billion worth of liquefied petroleum and natural gas through May last fiscal year and $4.7 billion in LNG and LPG imports the year earlier (FY24), mostly from Qatar. Russia and Pakistan also held the ninth meeting of their intergovernmental commission on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation in December and agreed to move ahead with the long-delayed Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline project. The pipeline, signed in 2015 but delayed for years, aims to transport imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Karachi to Pakistan's Punjab province and other energy-deficient regions. Federov said both sides knew the delays in, and challenges with, the pipeline 'must be fixed,' adding: 'We are working ... and I hope that in the nearest time we can prepare some positive surprises for Pakistani people, for Russian people, and for the world.' Asked what was delaying the pipeline, Federov declined to share details, saying it could 'spoil the game' as such projects 'do not like a lot of noise and discussions around it.' 'There are nothing that can be a firewall between Russia and Pakistan in implementing this project,' he said. The main challenges to building the Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline include unresolved disagreements over project structure, financing terms, and US sanctions on Russian entities involved in the project. Regulatory hurdles and Pakistan's weak fiscal position have also contributed to repeated delays since the agreement was signed a decade ago. But despite the challenges, Federov said the two sides remained committed to finding 'positive conclusions' on both the new steel mill and the pipeline. 'We know that we can fix them,' he concluded.
