Pakistan Cancels Shell LNG Deal, Cites Price as Reason

Pakistan State Oil has dropped plans to buy 60 liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes from Royal Dutch Shell after receiving a lower price from Qatar, two trade sources with knowledge of the matter said on Friday.

Pakistan was to buy from Shell after the oil major submitted the lowest price in a tender finalised late last year.

Before officially awarding the cargoes, Pakistani officials managed to clinch a more favourable deal with Qatargas even though it was not in the original tender, sources said.

Pakistan's minister of petroleum, while finalising a delayed long-term LNG import deal with Qatar, in parallel arranged for the additional 60 shipments, the sources said.

Qatargas will supply the cargoes at a price of 13.37 percent of a barrel of crude oil, one of the sources said.

Reporting by Oleg Vukmanovic