ISLAMABAD: Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has yet to take a decision either to award a bid of $25 per million British thermal unit (mmbtu) for one Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) cargo for mid-September delivery or go for re-tendering.

The lowest bids, against the PSO tender of spot purchase, received an offer of 34.67 percent of Brent or $25 per mmbtu for the window of September 16-17, from Qatar Petroleum.

The PSO tendered in the spot market for the delivery of two LNG cargoes for the delivery windows of September 16-17 and September 26-27 from global suppliers. The bid closing date was August 20, 2021. Qatar Petroleum offered $25 per mmbtu for the first delivery window, which was the lowest bid.

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While for the second window of September 26-27, Vitol offered 24.55 per cent of Brent or $18 per mmbtu. In July 2021, the bids for four spot LNG forward deliveries in September accepted by the Pakistan LNG Ltd (PLL) ranged between $15.2 to $15.5 per mmbtu.

The PLL is mandated by the Government of Pakistan to carry out the business of buying, importing, storing LNG, distributing, transporting, metering, and selling of natural gas.

A tender by the PSO was awarded earlier on August 5, 2021 to Qatar Petroleum Trading at a slope of 22.1311 percent of Brent, or around $15.93/mmbtu, as bids by traders Vitol and Guvnor at slopes of 24-28 percent, which were relatively high. Asian spot LNG prices soared above $16 per million British thermal units (mmbtu) in first half of August 2021.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021