ISLAMABAD: The federal government has claimed it purchased LNG at record lowest rate, ie, on an average 4.07-9.54 USD/MMBTU, whereas, LNG was imported at rate of 2.2296 and 2.9905 USD/MMBTU during August and September, 2020, the cheapest LNG import ever made in the country.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Miftah Ismail blamed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government for expensive procurement of the LNG. The Petroleum Division Tuesday stated that spot prices for LNG fluctuated during the year in the international market.

The prices normally remain low during summer and comparatively higher in the winter. Reacting to Miftah Ismail's claim that the current government should have signed deals for procurement of LNG when prices were low amid COVID-19 lockdown, the Division stated that the former government had signed long-term contracts for 800mmcfd LNG; consequently, the present government had to ensure that it could dispense available 800mmcfd LNG in every month of the year before it engaged in another long-term contract.

Otherwise, it would add a huge financial burden on the national exchequer created by the previous government by signing a 15-year contract for LNG import. Since previous government had declared LNG commodity as "petrol", therefore, only power and CNG sector and a small scale industry mainly in Punjab could buy and pay for imported LNG.

The government could look at signing new agreement(s) only when LNG could be sold to all customers including domestic users.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020