LNG

Pakistan said it was seeking a third long-term liquefied natural gas supply contract with Qatar possibly involving deferred payments as the Asian nation adjusts to higher global gas prices and record spot cargo values.

Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi who is also Chief Executive of QatarEnergy, met two visiting Pakistani minister last week in Doha.

They were Pakistan’s Defence Minister and the Special Envoy of the Prime Minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, and Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Masood Malik.

A statement from the Petroleum Ministry’s office said the discussions in Qatar had covered the enhancement of cooperation in the field of energy between Qatar and Pakistan.

Petroleum Minister Malik said the Pakistani government and Qatar were exploring different “innovative” pricing and supply strategies.

“Deferred payment would be enormously beneficial for Pakistan in the way of cash flows, but that is not the only discussion that we are having,” explained Malik in a statement back in Pakistan.

Existing agreements

Pakistan already has two long-term supply deals with Qatar. The first was signed in 2016 for five cargoes a month, and the second in 2021, under which Pakistan currently gets three monthly shipments.

However, Pakistan’s main cities are suffering power outages as energy procurement is more intermittent because of higher natural gas prices to supply the expanded gas-fired power infrastructure.

Pakistan was looking to secure a new five-year or 10-year LNG supply deal for three monthly cargoes, as well as an additional cargo under an existing deal.

Pakistan imported 8.19 million tonnes of LNG last year, an increase of 10.5 percent on the previous year.

Despite its single-digit volumes, Pakistan is still the sixth-largest LNG importer with plenty of scope for expanding its current two floating facilities at Port Qasim, located to the east of Karachi.

It is behind China, Japan, South Korea, India and Taiwan in the importing ranking and ahead of Thailand.

The biggest supplier last year was Qatar with 5.24MT of deliveries and with other suppliers such as the US, Egypt, Angola and the United Arab Emirates supplying volumes of around 500,000 tonnes each.

The Pakistani government's fuel discussions with Qatar come at a time when it is awaiting the release of funds from the International Monetary Fund to help replenish foreign exchange reserves. 

Höegh LNG Partners, the owner and operator of five floating storage and regasification units, has completed the refinancing of two FSRUs contracted as floating import terminals in Indonesia and Turkey.

Excelerate Energy, the US pioneer of floating liquefied natural gas import terminals, has completed its 2,000th commercial ship-to-ship transfer of LNG worldwide after completing its latest operation in the Bay of Bengal off Bangladesh.