PSO acquires LNG at its heavily expensive rate

On Thursday, State-run Pakistan State Oil (PSO) got a better offer for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from longtime friendly supplier Qatar Petroleum (QP) for delivery in the last week of the current month at $15.93 per unit (22.13pc of Brent) that is still the highest-ever LNG price in the country.

While accepting the lowest bid among three others, the country’s largest company by revenue and biggest fuel supplier, confirmed the cargo for Aug 29-30 would be the most expensive so far.

“The highest slope PSO has paid was in February 2016 which was 18.93pc of Brent,” a company spokesperson said.

In a rare public statement following the fresh government instructions, the company said the bid received for its re-tender “translates into $15.9271 per mmBtu (million British thermal units) which is very competitive with current market rates.” It said PSO saved the national exchequer Rs2.1bn. It said the PSO decided to award the cargo to QP.

https://twitter.com/PSOPakistan/status/1423240735755837442

For a comparison, the Pakistan LNG Ltd (PLL) - the only other public sector LNG importer – had all the five spot cargoes booked for prices that ranged between $10.52 and $10.83 per unit for the current month.