Pakistan LNG awards tender to Vitol, first spot purchase in over a year
Oct 5 (Reuters) — Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL) awarded a tender to commodities trader Vitol for the delivery of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo in December, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday, making it the country’s first spot purchase in over a year.
Last week, PLL issued a tender seeking two spot LNG cargoes for delivery on Dec. 7-8 and 13-14. It received bids from Vitol and Trafigura for the Dec. 7-8 delivery window at $15.97 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) and $18.39/mmBtu respectively. It received one bid from Trafigura at $19.39/mmBtu for the Dec. 13-14 delivery window.
Asian spot LNG prices rose to $15/mmBtu last Friday on increased demand in Asia and supply concerns in Europe.
Grappling with high inflation and a foreign exchange crisis, Pakistan has struggled with spot purchases of the super-chilled fuel after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year pushed prices to record highs, leaving the South Asian nation to face widespread power outages.
Natural gas accounts for over a third of power generation in Pakistan, and LNG imports are crucial as local gas reserves are insufficient to address growing electricity demand.
PLL last awarded a spot tender to PetroChina for the delivery of two LNG spot cargoes in June 2022, when China’s state-owned energy giant offered the lowest bids of $23.96/mmBtu for a June 1-2 delivery and $22.49/mmBtu for a June 28-29 delivery.
PLL had issued tenders in June this year, seeking a total of nine LNG cargoes for delivery from October to February and received bids from Trafigura, but did not pick them up as the price levels were too high.
Reporting by Emily Chow; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Janane Venkatraman
Related Knowledge Center: Liquefied natural gas
Driven by plentiful natural gas produced from shale plays, the United States began exporting liquefied natural gas in 2016 when the Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana opened and shipped its first cargo. Since then, additional capacity, or trains, have been added to Sabine Pass, and terminals have become operational in Cameron Parish, La.; Hackberry, La.; Cove Point, Md.; and Corpus Christi, Texas. The Energy Information Administration projects that U.S. LNG export capacity will reach 8.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) by the end of 2019, making it the third largest in the world, behind Australia and Qatar. The tariff war with China has the potential to impact some final investment decisions for additional terminals in the coming months.