ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will leave for Azerbaijan on Wednesday (today), his office said, as Islamabad seeks spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes from Baku. 

Pakistan has been striving to clinch favorable energy deals from various countries in an attempt to cut down its whopping import bill of gas and petroleum products. With alarmingly low foreign reserves, the country is out of the LNG spot market since June 2022, firstly due to skyrocketing prices of energy products and secondly, due to its fast-depleting forex reserves. 

On Tuesday, Pakistan’s petroleum minister, Musadik Malik, told a news conference that Azerbaijan will supply an LNG cargo every month to Pakistan at a “cheaper price.” The minister did not share details on the supply deal, but said that a contract had already been signed with Azerbaijan and that it will “start soon.” 

Sharif will be visiting Azerbaijan on June 14-15 on the invitation of President Ilham Aliyev, where the Pakistan premier will be accompanied by ministers representing “priority areas of cooperation” between the two countries, Sharif’s office said in a statement. 

“Prime Minister will hold wide-ranging talks with President Ilham Aliyev on key areas of cooperation including trade, investment and energy,” the statement read. 

“Regional and global issues of mutual concern and cooperation in multilateral forums will also be discussed.” 

Pakistan also issued on Tuesday two tenders seeking LNG cargoes for the first time in nearly a year. The development came months after Islamabad and Baku held talks to materialize two credit lines worth around $220 million to import petroleum products and LNG under government-to-government (G2G) arrangements. 

Dependent on gas for power generation and running short of foreign exchange to pay for imports, the country has struggled to procure spot cargoes of LNG after global prices spiked last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, leaving it to face widespread power outages. 

Pakistan LNG, a government subsidiary that procures LNG from the international market, last issued a tender seeking 10 spot cargoes in July 2022, but it received no offers.