SINGAPORE: Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has issued its first tender to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) after it recently completed an import terminal, industry sources said on Monday.

The company is seeking four cargoes of 143,000 cubic metres each of LNG for delivery over June to September, a tender document showed.

The tender closes on June 9 and is valid until June 18. Energy-starved Pakistan received its first two shipments of LNG at the recently completed import terminal, becoming the latest of a growing list of importers benefiting from a more than 50 per cent drop in prices for the fuel.

Pakistan, with 180 million people and insufficient domestic gas output of its own, is looking to LNG to help tackle serious energy shortages and frequent power cuts.

Elengy Terminal Pakistan Ltd, wholly-owned by Pakistan’s Engro Corp, completed the import terminal at Bin Qasim port in less than a year — a sign of the urgency of the country’s energy needs — at a cost of around $150m, according to a statement from Engro.

LNG has been shipped to the terminal under a deal between state-owned fuel importer Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and Qatargas

Oil products for summer demand

Meanwhile, PSO is seeking 1.82 million tonnes of oil products for delivery over May to September, as temperatures rise boosting demand for power generation fuels, industry sources said.

The company is seeking 50,000 tonnes of gasoil, 10,000 tonnes of jet fuel, 1.16m tonnes of fuel oil and 600,000 tonnes of gasoline, tender documents showed.

Pakistan’s oil product requirements are spiking during the summer due to increasing temperatures where use of oil for power generation increases, an industry source familiar with Pakistan’s imports said.

“Temperature is hitting 40 degrees (Celsius) in major cities so demand from the power sector is increasing as use of air-conditioning increases,” the source added.

While fuel oil is used in power plants, gasoline use in smaller power generators is also going up, the source added.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2015

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