Month: July 2020

A Russian vessel capable of completing the pipelaying for the Gazprom-led Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project left a German port on Wednesday and entered Danish waters where the last section of the controversial pipeline has yet to be completed. According to vessel-tracking data from Refinitiv Eikon cited by Reuters, Russian ship Fortuna, sailing under a Russian flag, departed from the Mukran port in Germany on the Baltic Sea and moved into Danish territorial waters. The move comes several days after the Danish Energy Agency allowed Nord Stream 2…

Individual GCC states have settled on convoluted ways of distributing natural gas due to a lack of cooperationThe states bordering the Gulf are caught in a cat’s cradle of geopolitical complexity. This is as much the case within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) as it is between certain GCC states and Iran. The muddle is clearly illustrated by the minimal progress among the region’s governments towards coordinating the development of natural gas resources and gas distribution. At the launch of The Future of Gas in the Gulf in London at…

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will be a ‘game changer’ for the motherland, bringing unprecedented prosperity and progress to the country. “It (CPEC) is a project that will take Pakistan to new heights [of prosperity],” Mr. Khan said after witnessing the signing of agreement with China Gezhouba for Azad Pattan hydropower project at a ceremony held at PM Office on Monday. “Pakistan can learn with the progress made by emerging economic power, China, during the last 30 years,” Mr Khan said. He said…

Taiwan-based TSMC signed a corporate power purchase agreement (CPPA) with Ørsted for the Greater Changhua 2b & 4 offshore wind farm on 8 July. TSMC will offtake the full production from the 920 MW wind farm, making this the largest-ever contract of its kind within renewable energy, according to Ørsted. The contract has been signed with a fixed-price and will be in effect for 20 years, from the moment the project enters commercial operation in 2025/2026. The start of commercial operation is subject to grid availability and Ørsted’s final investment…

Pakistan’s energy sector has been in perpetual crisis, for one reason or another. From massive load shedding to expensive power and from untargeted subsidies to inefficient transmission networks – either or all keep making a comeback, from time to time. It is 2020 and the problems remain decade old – and getting worse in a few cases. Inaction has caused more damage to the power sector than most actions. And the current government is equally guilty on that account, just as its predecessors. Inaction has not really solved many problems…