KARACHI: The Karachi Port Trust on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Pakistan Railways, LNG Easy Ltd and Metrogas Ltd for the development of a Virtual Pipeline facility, a press release said.

An official statement said the pipeline facility will help meet the gas shortfall in the country through LNG Virtual Pipeline solution and help provide muchneeded fuel for commercial, industrial and residential sectors of the country. It gave no indication of the quantity of LNG that the Virtual Pipeline is expected to be able to process.

KPT said it `will allocate suitable berths for this purpose and arrangements are underway for the transportation of ISO tanks to up country through Pakistan Railways` according to an official statement.

The process involves transfer of LNG from ships to ISO tanks through a Mobile Filling Platform (MPP) and thereafter to their respective destinations. LNG Easy and Metrogas will re-gasify the LNG at end user premises and will also provide gas storage units.