KARACHI: State-owned Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL) has floated a tender seeking delivery of eight cargoes of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) to be delivered in September and October this year. The bids will be opened on July 0521.

According to the tender document, five cargoes up to 140,000 cubic meters in capacity each are spread over five windows in November 2021, i.e. September 8-9, September 10-11, September 16-17, September 26-27 and September 30, 2021

The remaining three cargoes are scheduled for delivery through October i.e. on October 11-12, October 21-22 and October 26-27, 2021. All cargoes will be supplied on a Delivered Ex-Ship (DES) basis to the facility located in Port Wasim, Karachi.

Economists have been expecting this post-COVID rebound, and the bullish factors supporting energy prices have come together rapidly, including the so-called great demand rotation as consumers return, less permanent damage to discretionary spending than expected, and fiscal policies that helped businesses pull through.

However, despite the accelerated recovery, pandemic-hit supply chains have not fully recovered; factories are still struggling to restore shipments of raw materials, oil and gas projects are still struggling to bring in technicians and engineers for repairs on time, and capital spending has not fully normalized — all of which are exacerbating the price squeeze and commodity price inflation.

The tender issued by Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL) for supply of two LNG cargoes in July 2021 received lukewarm response as only one supplier Vitol Bahrain made the offer and that too for just one cargo.

Economic recovery and a rebound in liquefied natural gas demand in the world’s largest LNG importing region, Asia, are set to keep spot regional LNG prices around current levels of $10 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) for most of the summer. LNG futures also suggest around $10/MMBtu prices from June to September.

Pakistan’s (LNG) imports declined 7.76 percent in the first eleven months of the current fiscal year to $2.3 billion compared to the imports worth $2.49 billion in the corresponding period last year, as slower activities due to Covid-19 pandemic eased demand, official data suggests.