Second Qatari LNG cargo clears Hormuz, docks at Port Qasim on Tuesday

A Qatari LNG cargo crossed the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend and is due at Pakistan's import terminal on Tuesday, the second Qatari shipment to reach the country this month. The first, the Al Marrouna, is already at Port Qasim.

The tanker loaded at Qatar's Ras Laffan terminal in late June. That date is the story. It has been sitting on a cargo for nearly three months because the strait has not been reliably passable, and Qatar declared force majeure on July deliveries when the tension peaked.

Bloomberg reported that the passage was negotiated between government officials. Neither side has published the terms.

Why a single cargo matters here

Pakistan takes almost all of its LNG from Qatar under long-term contracts. Those contracts are priced off a slope to Brent, which is why they are survivable. The spot market is not: LNG spot prices are at their highest level since 2022, and Pakistan had been weighing a tender for a spot purchase to cover the gap.

Every cargo that arrives under the Qatar contract is a spot cargo Pakistan does not have to buy. On a standard cargo the difference between contract and spot pricing at current levels runs into tens of millions of dollars, paid in foreign exchange the country would rather keep.

Qatar's energy minister Saad Sherida Al Kaabi has said only a very small volume of LNG is currently moving through the strait at all. Pakistan getting two cargoes through in September is not routine.

What this changes for your gas bill and your electricity bill

Nothing this week. Imported LNG feeds the power sector and industry before it reaches domestic kitchens, and the tariff you pay is set by notification, not by cargo arrivals.

What it prevents is the worse outcome. When LNG does not arrive, the power sector burns furnace oil or diesel instead, and that cost lands in the fuel charges adjustment on your electricity bill two months later. CPPA has already asked NEPRA for Rs 1.73 a unit more, with a hearing set for 29 September. A missed LNG cargo would have made that number worse, not better.

Petroleum minister Ali Pervaiz Malik warned last week that petrol could reach Rs 1,000 a litre if supply broke, while saying there is no current shortage. Both halves of that sentence are true and this cargo is why.

The numbers to watch

Petrol is at Rs 389.14 a litre and diesel at Rs 424.04, unchanged since the last review. Brent fell to a one-week low near $101.71 on hopes of diplomacy in the Iran conflict, which matters for the 1 October price review more than anything happening at Port Qasim.

Track the numbers as they move: petrol price, diesel price. To work out what the next revision does to your monthly running cost, use the fuel cost calculator. For the electricity side, the electricity bill calculator covers LESCO, IESCO, MEPCO and K-Electric slabs.