Pakistan Plans to Hike LNG Imports This Year
Pakistan is looking to add around 400mn ft3/day of regasified LNG to its gas distribution system by end of the year, petroleum division of the energy ministry said July 22 on Twitter.
The government wants to secure the contracts for this additional supply by end of this calendar year, it said. Recently, state-owned Pakistan LNG floated a tender seeking to contract supply of 240 LNG cargoes over the next ten years. The company is seeking two cargoes of 140,000 m3 every month, which would be delivered on ex-ship basis to Port Qasim, Karachi.
Pakistan has two import terminals located at Port Qasim. The south Asian nation started importing LNG in 2015 with the commissioning of the Exquisite FSRU. Pakistan commissioned its second FSRU in late 2017. The petroleum division of the energy ministry said the two LNG terminals are supplying about 1,100mn ft3/d of regasified LNG to customers downstream.
The petroleum division did not disclose from where it will source the LNG from, but said that the US and Australia are going to be the next major suppliers to the LNG market.
At present, Pakistan has a long-term LNG contracts with Qatar. In 2016, Pakistan State Oil and Qatargas signed a 15-year agreement for supply of 3.76mn mt/yr at a price of 13.36% of Brent. Pakistan LNG also has a long-term deal with Eni, which commits the Italian company to supply 0.75mn mt/yr.