KARACHI: Having learned from the losses due to late demand forecast and even delayed procurement tenders lately, Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL), a subsidiary of Government Holdings (Pvt) Limited, has floated a tender to import two spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes of 140,000 cubic meters each for April 2021.
An advertisement by PLL said the country is seeking cargoes – each of 140,000 cubic metres in two delivery windows – and January 29, 2021 is the deadline for submission of bids.
The first LNG cargo will be delivered on April 06-06 and second on April 19-20, 2021 on a delivered ex-ship basis, according to PLL.
It may be mentioned here, Pakistan received bids from five liquefied natural gas (LNG) companies for two cargoes in February 2021, at the highest price as yet.
PLL received these all-time highest bids up to 32.48 percent of Brent. The lowest bids for the delivery windows of February 2021 were nearly at 21 percent to 23 percent of Brent, as received by the PLL on December 28, 2021.
The gap in demand and supply of gas is expected to spiral beyond two billion cubic feet owing to rapid urbanisation, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects, and industrial growth.
“The ongoing gas crisis and much propagated mismanagement in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) procurement only advocate urgent commercial import of LNG by private parties. Government needs to remove all the hurdles and fast track regulatory formalities to enable smooth commercial import of LNG,” an industry official said.
LNG imports by private parties would ensure sufficient supplies as well as relax state entities of cumbersome computations of demand forecasts and arranging spot purchases.
A number of business houses and trade associations such as CNG associations are eager to import their own gas once the bureaucratic hurdles are removed.
Although, the government has notified the framework for the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by private parties and sanctioned excess capacity available at LNG terminals for private imports, but certain bottlenecks are still there.
Intending importers believe that private importers, gas companies, terminal operators and regulatory authority need to be on the same page to make this enterprise a success.