State-owned Pakistan LNG Ltd., or PLL, has received only one bid in response to its latest spot tender as other suppliers shied away amid a tight market and elevated Asian spot LNG prices, which stood at $/MMBtu June 23.
According to the PLL document, Qatar Energy Trading was the solitary bidder for this tender, with the company placing a bid of $/MMBtu for July 30-31 delivery.
No decision has been taken yet on awarding the tender, a PLL official said June 23, although traders are skeptical, given the high ask.
This comes after Pakistan LNG June 16 invited bids for four cargoes–the first cargo is for the delivery window of July 3-4, a second cargo on July 8-9, a third cargo on July 25-26 and a fourth cargo on July 30-31, according to the bid document.
The latest tender was announced after PLL had disqualified participants from its last two tenders even as energy shortages mounted.
The government should reject the current expensive bid as it will strain the foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank, the country’s central bank, Khaqan Hassan Najeeb, a public policy expert and economist told S&P Global Commodity Insights June 23.
According to the latest bid, the cost of one cargo will likely be an estimated $120 million, he said.
“With the precarious situation of foreign exchange reserves, I think the worst case should be to fulfill industrial needs of electricity & gas and load shedding for residential users,” Shahrukh Saleem, an independent Karachi-based energy analyst said June 23.
Pakistan’s LNG’s imports in the 11 months ended May 31 stood at $4.289 billion, jumping 86.3% year on year, data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics showed.
