Four companies vie for a multi-year tender offer for Pakistan LNG import

LONDON / SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Four companies have submitted bids in connection with a 10-year call for tenders for liquefied natural gas deliveries ( LNG) in Pakistan, announced Friday two sources familiar with the matter.

The companies that have made this offer are the Italian Eni, the Azerbaijani national oil company SOCAR, PetroChina International Singapore, a subsidiary of PetroChina Co Ltd and the international trading house Trafigura, they added.

Commercial offers should be open on August 2, according to one of the sources.

Pakistan LNG, a state-owned company, issued a tender in early June to import 240 LNG cargoes of 140,000 cubic meters, to be delivered over a period of 10 years at the country's second LNG terminal, which can receive 600 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of natural gas. .

Shipments will be delivered to the Pakistan GasPort Consortium Ltd terminal, the first delivery being scheduled between September 2019 and March 2020. Pakistan LNG is expected to award the call for tenders in August.

It is unusual for companies to launch a call for tenders for long-term LNG contracts, which are usually negotiated privately, and this decision signals a move towards greater transparency as the market moves forward. LNG is developing alongside more environmentally friendly fuels, according to traders.

The deal could amount to about $ 5- $ 6 billion at current oil prices, said an industry source. Pakistan LNG has requested that the contract price be based on the price of Brent crude oil in accordance with industry practice for long-term LNG contracts in Asia.

The bid documents also indicate that both counterparties will have the opportunity to revise their prices five years after the start of the contract.

Pakistan, which has about 200 million inhabitants, lacks domestic gas and has turned to LNG imports to alleviate the chronic energy shortages that have hampered its economy and resulted in a decade of power outages.

Qatar is the main supplier of the country with which it signed in 2016 an agreement for 3.75 million tons of LNG per year for 15 years. She also entered into a five-year import agreement with commodities dealer Gunvor and a 15-year deal with Eni.