Pakistan LNG seeks 10 cargoes for July-Sept deliveries: tender document

LAHORE: Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL) is seeking 10 shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for delivery in July to September period, with bids to be sent in by July 7, according to a tender advertised on Friday.

PLL, which is owned by the Government of Pakistan, invited bids from reputed international suppliers for the supply of ten LNG cargoes on a Delivered Ex-Ship (DES) basis at Port Qasim, Karachi with 140.000 m3 quantity per cargo, it said.

“Import of one each cargo during windows of July 25-26, 2022, July 30-31, 2022, August 04-05, 2022, August 10-11, 2022, August 15-16, 2022, August 20-21, 2022, August 30-31, 2022, September 09-10, 2022, September 14-15, 2022, and September 19-20, 2022 has been solicited.”

PLL that has the mandate to procure LNG to meet the country's gas requirements asked potential bidders to

submit their respective bids up to July 07, 2022. “The bid(s) will be opened the same day at 1230 hours PST as per PPRA rules.”

The country has floated new import tender in the hope of sourcing LNG as EU countries’ buying spree leave market with little supplies.

This is the fourth attempt by State-owned PLL to purchase LNG cargo from highly volatile spot market that largely remained futile. The earlier three tenders that were issued on May 31, June 7 and June 16, attracted too little and too expensive fuel for import.

In the last tender that was floated on June 17, PLL received bid for only one cargo against out of four and that too at a record $39.8 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu) bid price. However, Pakistan refrained itself from accepting the bid for July delivery for being too expensive.

For easing domestic natural gas shortage and meeting the demand of power and industrial sector, PLL has been trying to buy spot cargoes but with little success in the wake of Ukraine-Russia war that has left EU countries switching to new energy suppliers after ending buying of natural gas from Russia.

This has put strain on Asian LNG market. In such a bleak scenario, the country's energy crisis is set to deteriorate as Russia-Ukraine standoff continues to pose challenge amid record high LNG prices following Europe's rush for

stocking fuel in the absence of Russian gas.

In such testing times, Pakistan has been facing immense difficulties in sourcing LNG from the spot market. The country early this month failed to receive even a single qualifying bid for two tenders, seeking a July 3-4 delivery LNG cargo.

The problem not only relates to the spot market, but also to several of those cargoes (under long-term deals) that were withheld by the suppliers, further exacerbating dwindling fuel supplies.