Pakistan Rejects BP LNG Bid Amid Energy Crisis

The Government of Pakistan is managing an intensifying electricity crisis and rolling evening blackouts after the state-owned Pakistan LNG Ltd. rejected a sole emergency bid from BP Plc for liquefied natural gas. Officials deemed the offer of $27 per million British thermal units too expensive, noting the price was nearly three times the spot levels recorded before the war in Iran.

The energy shortage follows the near-total closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has disrupted flows from Qatar, the primary supplier for Pakistan. The Government of Qatar has extended force majeure on shipments to Asian and European buyers into October, a decision following an attack on one of its tankers in July.

Pakistan now faces a critical trade-off between maintaining energy security and absorbing the high cost of spot market replacements during a period of global economic volatility.