ISLAMABAD: Vitol on Friday offered Pakistan LNG Ltd (PLL) a spot cargo sought for a May 17-18 delivery window at $23.13 per mmBtu, bid documents showed, as Pakistan continued to seek fuel to meet rising local power demands as summer approaches.

Last week PLL picked up four of seven spot cargoes sought for May and June through tenders, but it did not finalise a cargo for the May 17-18 window, which returned a lowest offer of $31.77 per mmBtu from Vitol, an industry source said.

PLL released a fresh tender this week for the May 17-18 window, attracting three offers: Total Energies at $25.2 per mmBtu, PetroChina International at $25.23 per mmBtu and Vitol Bahrain at $23.1297 per mmBtu, bid documents on PLL’s website showed.

PLL is a public sector entity with a mandate from the government to procure LNG from international markets and manage the supply chain from procurement onwards.

Pakistan has experienced a rise in LNG consumption in recent years, particularly in its power sector as it looks to move away from oil.

Recently, however, the nation of 220 million people has again increased oil consumption after suppliers on long-term contracts have cancelled cargoes in an unstable LNG market.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2022