pakistan issues tender for lng cargoes to meet winter demand
Pakistan is facing a big energy problem because it hasn’t been able to buy enough liquefied natural gas (LNG) from other countries for more than a year. To solve this issue a government-owned company called Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL) is asking companies around the world to offer to sell them two big shipments of LNG. These shipments are supposed to arrive in December at Port Qasim in Karachi.
The need for LNG in Pakistan is paramount
Pakistan needs a lot of natural gas to make electricity and it usually gets some of it from its own gas reserves. But now, there’s not enough gas in Pakistan to meet the needs of its 230 million people. The problem got worse because of a conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Which made it hard for Pakistan to buy more natural gas from other countries.
Pakistan also tried before to buy extra natural gas, but it didn’t work out. Some sellers didn’t want to sell it to Pakistan and they were worried that Pakistan might not pay them back. As a result, Pakistan now has 20% less natural gas than it did last year. Which means there might be power outages for people.
To solve this problem Pakistan has to import liquefied natural gas (LNG). But that can be expensive. The government is trying to figure out ways to make it work. They’re looking into making long-term deals to buy LNG and they’re also talking to other governments about getting gas. They’re also trying to use the LNG terminals. They already have as much as possible and are working on building new ones.
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The situation will get even more difficult in the next five years because Pakistan will need a lot more LNG. Right now, they use nine LNG shipments a month, but soon they will need 25 to keep up with the demand for power.
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Pakistan really needs LNG for the winters but it’s too hard to get. They’re trying to solve this problem by making long-term deals, using their existing terminals and talking to other countries. It’s a big challenge, but they need to do it to keep the lights on for their people.