Pakistan LNG Limited is back in the market for the same winter gas it turned down a week ago. The state-owned importer has re-issued a tender for two spot cargoes, one for delivery between 14 and 16 December and the second between 9 and 11 January, after rejecting bids of 27 to 31 dollars per million British thermal units in the first round. Bids for the new tender, numbered PLL/IMP/LNGT81, are due by 2pm on 18 November. Spot prices have since been reported at about 34 dollars, so gas refused at up to 31 dollars may now cost more. Each cargo is about 140,000 cubic metres, estimated at about 100 million dollars.
The bids Pakistan turned down
The two cargoes were first sought under tender PLL/IMP/LNGT80, with bids due on 6 November. Two suppliers quoted between 27 and 31 dollars per million British thermal units, and Pakistan rejected both, Business Recorder reported via OilPrice. The re-issue notice discloses no expected price, buyer, or reason for the renewed demand. Bids are due by 2pm on 18 November via the government’s EPADS v2.0 portal, and open at 2.30pm. September spot tenders drew bids of 26.712 and 26.969 dollars, and a third drew no bid, The News reported.
The 900 MMCFD hole Qatar left behind
Pakistan relied mostly on Qatari term supply before the war with Iran. QatarEnergy declared force majeure on its LNG exports in early March, after Iranian strikes damaged its Ras Laffan complex, including Trains 4 and 6, together 12.8 million tonnes a year of capacity, about 17 percent of Qatar’s exports. Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik told the National Assembly that about 900 million cubic feet per day of Qatari gas stood suspended. Only four Qatari cargoes reached Pakistan in September and October, after assurances of safe Hormuz passage. The first October cargo, aboard the Al-Areesh, berthed in mid-October and resumed regasification at about 150 million cubic feet per day. Reuters reported that QatarEnergy has prolonged force majeure for Italy’s Edison until the end of December, and no public notice has lifted the suspension for Pakistani buyers.
24 cargoes sent away, 10 to be bought back at double the price
Pakistan had already arranged to divert 24 Qatari cargoes from its 2026 delivery plan on weak demand, The News reported, before the Ras Laffan damage cut supply. With Qatari cargoes disrupted, Pakistan will have to buy an additional 10 cargoes on the spot market for delivery between November 2026 and February 2027, at double the Qatar contract price, OilPrice reported. The winter import bill will pass 1 billion dollars, OilPrice reported, while The Express Tribune put the 10 spot cargoes at about 863 million dollars and the total at about 1.29 billion. The winter plan puts the requirement at 24 cargoes from November to February, nine for power plants and 15 for households, including two contingency cargoes. The procurement outline lists 12 long-term cargoes and 10 spot cargoes, which makes 22, a two-cargo gap The News noted.
Winter is already reaching homes
The tendered cargoes do not arrive until mid-December, but winter demand is already here. Sui Northern expects demand on its network to rise from about 550 to 1,100 million cubic feet per day, and Sui Southern expects its demand to climb from 300 to 500 million, The News reported. Sui Southern already gives domestic consumers gas only at breakfast, lunch and dinner times in Sindh and Balochistan, under a winter schedule effective from 4 November. Households without pipeline gas are paying far more for cylinders. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics figures for the week ending 5 November put the national average price of an 11.67kg LPG cylinder at 6,497.89 rupees, against 3,023.99 rupees a year earlier, more than double in twelve months. Planning estimates put the Sui Northern-linked requirement at about 1,062 million cubic feet per day in November, rising to 1,612 million in January, against indigenous gas near 775 million. The gap for regasified LNG rises from 287 million cubic feet per day to about 837 million.
What happens next
The test comes on 18 November, when the new bids are opened. If suppliers quote near the reported spot level of about 34 dollars, the two cargoes alone will cost about 200 million dollars. The two gas price petitions now before OGRA ask for very different outcomes, and the regulator will decide how much of the import cost reaches consumers. Petrol fell to Rs332 in its eighth straight cut this week, but gas has no such relief in sight. At the current USD to PKR exchange rate today, every dollar on the LNG price is paid in weaker rupees. More business and economy news from Pakistan will follow as the bids are opened and the first cargo’s December arrival approaches.
