Pakistan receives 4 international bidders for shipment of LNG

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Energy-starved Pakistan has received four bids from international bidders for the shipment of Liquefied Natural Gas for a 10-year period, officials said on Friday.

Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL), a government entity mandated to procure Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), floated a tender in June inviting international suppliers to make offers to bring LNG.

PLL tender showed that the successful bidder would supply 240 LNG cargoes of 140,000 cubic metres each for delivery over a 10-year period for the country's second LNG terminal which can receive 600 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of natural gas.

The officials in the company told PTI that Italy's Eni, Azerbaijan state oil company SOCAR, PetroChina International Singapore, a unit of PetroChina Co Ltd and global trading house Trafigura filed bids by the last date of July 18.

"We will award the contract to the lowest bidder in a transparent manner," said an official.

He said the contract will be finalised by August and the successful company would make the first delivery of LNG between September 2019 and March 2020.

The contract would be between USD 5 billion to USD 6 billion and is being billed as one the biggest in the LNG shipment sector.

Currently, Pakistan has a 15-year contract with Qatar for the supply of LNG. The contract was finalised when Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was minister for petroleum in 2016.

Abbasi was arrested on July 18 for alleged corruption in the award of the contract. He has denied the allegations.

A Pakistani court on Friday sent former premier Abbasi on a 13-day remand to the country's anti-graft body, probing a case of alleged corruption of multi-billion-rupees in awarding an import contract of the LNG from Qatar.

The Officials said that the current government would ensure transparency in the contract to avoid criticism by the opposition.

Pakistan faced acute energy shortages until LNG supplies from Qatar began after contract which helped to address the problem.

But its demand is increasing, creating pressure for a bigger and efficient supply chain.