Pakistan’s Energy Crunch Spurs ‘Barter’ Trade for Afghani Coal
- LNG purchase tender scrapped after offers were too expensive
- Cement factories buying coal from Afghanistan as prices surge
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Cash-strapped Pakistan can’t afford to buy fuel on the spot market and is either skipping purchases or turning to alternatives such as Afghani coal as it grapples with a worsening energy crisis.
State-owned Pakistan LNG Ltd. didn’t award a recent purchase tender seeking several shipments of liquefied natural gas through May due to high offer prices. Cement manufacturers, meanwhile, are buying coal from Afghanistan at roughly half the price of shipments from regular supplier South Africa.