Pakistan invites bids for 10 LNG cargoes in July-Sept as energy crisis deepens

Amid a deepening energy crisis in the country, Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Government Holdings Private Limited (GHPL), has invited bids for ten Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) cargoes from international suppliers during the July-August-September window.

Suppliers have been asked to submit bids by July 7.

"Bids are invited from reputed companies to ship cargo on a Delivered Ex-Ship basis (DES) at Port Qasim, Karachi," stated PLL.

Documents showed the company is seeking the cargoes during the following windows:

• first cargo during 25-26 July,

• second cargo for 30-31 July,

• third cargo for 4-5 August,

• fourth cargo for 10-11 August,

• fifth cargo for 15-16 August,

• sixth cargo for 20-21 August,

• seventh cargo for 30-31 August,

• eighth cargo for 9-10 September,

• ninth cargo for 14-15 September, and

• 10th cargo for 19-20 September

Each cargo is to have a volumetric quantity of 140,000m3, added PLL, which has been mandated by the government of Pakistan to carry out the business of importing, buying, storing, supplying, distributing, transporting, transmitting, processing, measuring, metering and selling natural gas, LNG and re-gasified LNG.

In this capacity, PLL procures LNG from international markets and enters into onward arrangements for the supply of gas to end-users, thereby managing the whole supply chain of LNG from procurement to end-users.

Pakistan LNG invites bids for four cargoes in July

It is pertinent to mention that amid supply-chain disruptions globally owing to the Russia-Ukraine war, prices of energy commodities including LNG have skyrocketed.

On the other hand, Pakistan is dealing with fuel shortages, particularly in its power sector, as electricity consumption spikes in the summer months, leading to power outages across the country.

The government has also decided to form an inquiry commission to determine the causes of the energy crisis in the country.

Last month, Pakistan LNG Ltd (PLL) received a single bid from Qatar Energy at $39.80/mmbtu for an LNG import tender seeking a cargo in the July 30-31 window. It received no bids for three other deliveries sought in July.

Pakistan had sought four cargoes from international suppliers during the windows of July 3-4, 8-9, 25-26 and 30-31.

However, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif last week informed that the country scrapped the LNG tender for July to save the country's foreign exchange reserves.

Addressing a meeting on the energy situation, he said that accepting the tender would have drained the low level of reserves.

“We are trying to prop up central bank reserves,” he said. “We imposed limits on import of raw material and machinery to save $2 to $3 billion for Pakistan.”