ISLAMABAD - The prevailing power crisis in the country is likely to worsen in July as Pakistan LNG Ltd (PLL) has received poor response from suppliers against tenders of four liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes in July. The state-owned company has got only single bid at $39.80/mmbtu.

No company responded to the PLL tender for the supply of three LNG cargoes from spot market for various delivery windows in July, however, one company Qatar Energy has responded to the tender for and quoted $39.80/mmbtu for delivery in July 30-31 window.

On June 16, PLL had floated tenders for the purchase of four Spot LNG cargoes from international suppliers for the deliveries in July 3-4, July 8-9, July 25-26, and July 30-31 windows. No bids were received for the remaining three cargoes of July.

Earlier in June, PLL had scrapped, on technical ground, two bids it received for a tender seeking one spot cargo of LNG for delivery in early July.

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For two June deliveries Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL) had awarded two LNG to PetroChina for the delivery of two LNG spot cargoes in June. PetroChina offered the lowest bids of $23.96/mmbtu for June 1-2 delivery and $22.49/mmBtu for June 28-29 windows. It is worth mentioning here that during the last winter season PLL had purchased LNG at $30.65/mmbtu from Qatar Petroleum, the highest ever price the company paid for LNG spot purchases.

To avoid the imminent power shortage in July, the government will resort to power generation through expensive fuel such as furnace oil, HSD and imported coal. However, the government claims that the electricity generation through LNG at the rate of $40/mmbtu is much more expensive than furnace oil and coal based electricity.