Poland’s PGNiG issues five-cargo spot LNG tender

Poland’s incumbent gas company PGNiG has issued a buy tender for five LNG cargoes, market sources familiar with the issue said.

PGNiG is seeking four cargoes for delivery to the Swinoujscie LNG terminal in June and one in July.

Offers for the June cargoes are due on 10 May, with the validity period until 
13 May.

Offers for the July cargo are required to be submitted by 17 May, with their validity to be held until 20 May.

The buyer also stated in the tender that it prefers offers to be indexed to the Netherlands’ TTF gas hub price, with the Month-ahead contract to be used.

However, sellers could use other pricing benchmarks in their offers, a source active in the tender said.

While exact specifications of the cargoes could not be confirmed, one trader said that they are of conventional sizes. The tender was issued on 3 May.

Poland’s spot LNG demand is likely to have arisen on the back of renegotiations between PGNiG and Qatari producer Qatargas over the terms of a long-term supply contract signed in 2015.

Under the terms of that 20-year 1mtpa agreement, PGNiG has secured the right to defer the term deliveries in the first half of 2016 to a later date.

As spot prices are much more favourable now compared with long-term pricing, the buyer is likely to have exercised this option.

Qatargas delivered one cargo each in December 2015 and February 2016 to Poland for the cooldown and commissioning of the terminal.

The terminal was scheduled to enter the commercial phase in the second quarter of this year. roman.kazmin@icis.com