Pakistan Receives First LNG Cargo of October as Engro Terminal Resumes Gas Supply, Second Terminal Still Idle

ISLAMABAD: After days of near silence, Pakistan’s gas system finally has something flowing through it again. The vessel Al-Areesh, carrying LNG from Qatar, berthed at the Engro terminal on Tuesday and regasification began at 150 million cubic feet per day. It is the first LNG cargo to reach the country in October, and it has arrived just as winter approaches and gas demand is about to climb.

A terminal idle since September 26

The Engro terminal had sat idle since September 26 for a simple reason: no ship had come. The country’s second terminal, run by Pakistan GasPort, has been out of operation since October 9 because its LNG inventory ran out. The worst stretch came between October 9 and 13, when neither terminal was regasifying anything at all and the power sector was left with only around 38 mmcfd for electricity generation on October 13. The Al-Areesh has restarted the Engro side of the system, but officials expect it will take another eight to ten days to arrange a cargo for the second terminal.

Three cargoes sought, two likely

According to a senior Petroleum Division official, the government is trying to secure three cargoes from Qatar in October, with help from Iranian and US officials. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains uncertain, however, and the latest assessment is that only two cargoes are likely this month — the same number as in September, when shipments arrived on September 10 and 23. The real test lies ahead. Once winter demand rises, two or three cargoes will feel thin, and the familiar question will return: does the system favour household consumers, or the power plants that keep the lights on?