July 30, 2002	Tuesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 19,1423

SINGAPORE, July 29: Pakistan’s state utility, Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), has issued a tender to import high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) for August and September delivery, a company official said on Monday.

The tender, Wapda’s first, will close on Friday and comes two years after import restrictions were lifted by the government.

The tender will be awarded four to five days later, the Wapda official said.

The tender seeks two 55,000-ton cargoes of 3.5 per cent sulphur, 170-centistoke fuel oil for delivery into Port Qasim, one each in August and September on a cost and freight basis, the official said.

The tender, which will fulfil half of Wapda’s monthly requirement, adds the authority to a slowly growing pool of importers, including Shell Pakistan and Pakistan State Oil, which controls about 70 per cent of the market.

Wapda will procure the rest of its fuel oil from the local market.

Wapda has in recent months supplemented its 110,000-ton monthly fuel oil requirement with relatively expensive spot buys from both Shell and PSO.

The utility has been forced to buy on the domestic spot market to make up for a decrease in electricity generation at hydropower plants because of an ongoing drought. Wapda wants to reduce the cost of fuel oil supplies by importing independently via open tender.—Reuters