Pakistan receives bids for three spot LNG cargoes as country looks to plug supply gap

Pakistan has received bids from global firms to import three parcels of Liquefied Natural Gas on a spot basis as the country seeks to avert the crisis caused by supply disruptions from Qatar.

Pakistan has signed long-term LNG supply contracts with Qatar and relies heavily on LNG to generate electricity. After Iran’s attacks on Qatar’s energy infrastructure in the past month, the country declared a force majeure event and cancelled all LNG supply agreements.

With no LNG supply from Qatar, Pakistan had to shut down its LNG-fired electricity generation units, resulting in an electricity shortfall and more frequent power outages during the summer season, when demand peaks.

The state-run Pakistan LNG Ltd. has received three bids from global companies after issuing tender notices on April 23, marking the first spot purchase since 2023.

Total Energies Gas & Power Ltd. has placed a bid of $18.88/mmbtu for the first parcel of 140,000 cubic meters, with delivery expected in the April 27-30 window.

The cargo scheduled for May 1-7 received a bid from Vitol Bahrain of $18.54/mmbtu, and for the cargo scheduled for May 8-14, Pakistan LNG Ltd. received a bid of $17.997/mmbtu, according to the final evaluation document issued by the company.

Pakistan Ministry of Energy officials said the Board of Directors of Pakistan LNG Ltd., along with the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy officials, will soon meet to approve or cancel the bids submitted by the companies.

Pakistan's LNG purchases fell from $189 million in February and $226 million in March 2025 to $70 million in March, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

LNG imports in the nine months ended March 31 decreased to $1.884 billion from $2.682 billion during the same period a year earlier, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics data showed.

Officials from Pakistan's Ministry of Petroleum informed members of the Senate's upper house that, in March, only two of eight scheduled LNG cargoes arrived on time due to disruptions caused by the war in the Middle East. They said the arrival of six cargoes scheduled for April remained uncertain.

Pakistan typically imports about 9-10 LNG cargoes each month from Qatar under long-term LNG purchase contracts. The country has two contracts with Qatar: one is a 15-year agreement ending in January 2031 with a Brent slope of 13.37%, and the other is a 10-year contract maturing in December 2032 with a Brent slope of 10.2%.

The country's electricity generation from regasified LNG-powered units fell to 504 GWh in March, down from 1,528 GWh in March 2025, according to data from the state-run National Electricity Regulatory Authority and brokerage firm Arif Habib Ltd.

In March, the electricity generation cost from fuel oil power plants in Pakistan was PKR 36.16/unit, compared with PKR 24.56/unit from regasified LNG plants, according to NEPRA.