KARACHI: The power sector regulatory authority has advised the government to give autonomy to all the nine state-owned distribution companies like Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) and Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco) – which supply electricity to end-consumers – after their performance continued to deteriorate over the years. Performance of distribution companies throughout this period (FY15-19) does not meet the…
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Prime Minister Imran Khan recently said that Pakistan’s economy was on the right track since country’s current account balance recorded a surplus $424 million in July 2020. Pakistan has gone through this boom and bust cycles many times before: an import-driven boom, balance of payments crisis, International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout, stabilisation, a period of growth and then back to a crisis.…
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ISLAMABAD: Concerned over the poor performance of the power sector, the regulator has blamed the distribution companies (Discos) for overbilling consumers to cover up their inefficiencies and high system losses as the government struggles to put in place an improvement roadmap. In its “State of Industry Report 2019” cleared by the federal cabinet last week, the National Electric Power Regulatory…
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The United Arab Emirates (UAE), currently OPEC’s third-largest producer, is estimated to have exported a lot more crude oil in August as it produced more than its quota under the OPEC+ deal, undermining the oil market’s faith in the group’s unity in the cuts. According to tanker tracking data Bloomberg has compiled from several oil flow tracking firms, the UAE shipped more…
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Iran’s electricity grid will be connected with Russia and Azerbaijan in a few months, once grid compatibility studies are completed, Iran’s Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian said on Friday. Iran’s power grid could be linked and synchronized to connect with other grids either via Azerbaijan or via Armenia and Georgia, Ardakanian said, as reported by Iranian Fars news agency. “Iran welcomes either of…
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Tesla is in talks with Canada’s Giga Metals to potentially help it develop a nickel mine and buy the low-emissions nickel production for its batteries, Reuters reported on Friday, quoting three sources with knowledge of the discussions. Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk has recently asked miners to mine more nickel, preferably in an environmentally-friendly way, as Tesla and other automakers are ramping up…
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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has delayed its plan to hedge petroleum prices as experts have advised the government to stay away from materialising its hedging strategy while prices of petroleum products remain volatile. In a cabinet meeting held in March this year, Pakistan had decided to come up with an oil hedging plan in the wake of a tug of war between…
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KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has stayed the collection of Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) on feedstock supply from fertiliser plants established under Fertilizer Policy 2001. Fertiliser manufacturers had challenged the imposition of GIDC on gas supplied under a fixed price gas sale and purchase agreement dated April 11, 2007. The government in order to encourage investment in new fertiliser…
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Last summer, oil and gas-industry groups were lobbying to overturn federal rules on leaks of natural gas, a major contributor to climate change. Their message: The companies had emissions under control. In private, the lobbyists were saying something very different. At a discussion convened last year by the Independent Petroleum Association of America, a group that represents energy companies, participants…
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LAHORE: Pakistan’s post-pandemic economic performance looked better than its regional competitors because the GDP of the country had already shrunk by 15 percent pre-pandemic. Accumulated demand after lockdown created economic activity. The central bank also provided unusual support in the form of low interest loans to businesses for payment of salaries to their employees. There loan servicing was also deferred.…
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