$5.8B Reko Diq Dispute Award: Pakistan, Tethyan Talking

The World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) last year ordered Pakistan to pay damages of $5.84 billion to Tethyan Copper – a joint venture between Chile’s Antofagasta and Canada’s Barrick Gold – for blocking Tethyan from developing the Reko Diq copper asset after it had already sunk more than $220 million into the project in Balochistan.…

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Ghana Tells Eni To Merge Oil Field With Local Discovery

Ghana has told Italy’s Eni to merge its Sankofa offshore discovery with another field, discovered by a locally based company, Bloomberg reports, citing a letter by Ghanaian Energy Minister John-Peter Amewu. The letter follows the failure of Eni and the local company, Springfield Exploration and Production, to reach an agreement on how to develop the fields jointly. Eni, which operates…

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Australia-China Spat Threatens LNG Deal

A sharp worsening in relations between Australia and China could threaten a deal that would have seen Woodside Petroleum sell a stake in a natural gas field and in the $16-billion Scarborough liquefied natural gas project. The chief executive officer of Woodside, Peter Coleman, told Reuters in an interview that the talks for the stake sales had been suspended several months ago, adding that…

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IEA cuts oil demand outlook on concerns over vaccine’s impact

The International Energy Agency cut forecasts for global oil demand amid new lockdown measures and cautioned that the vaccine breakthrough won’t quickly revive markets. While crude prices rallied to a 10-week high above $45 in London this week on news of Pfizer Inc.’s progress, fuel use won’t experience any “significant” boost from vaccines until the second half of next year,…

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OPEC+ explores a three to six month delay on oil output hikes

Talks between OPEC and its allies are zeroing in on a delay to next year’s planned oil-output increase of three to six months, according to several delegates. Saudi Arabia and Russia, leaders of the 23-nation coalition, have already indicated publicly that they are thinking twice about easing production cuts in January as the resurgent pandemic hits fuel demand. The presidents…

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Pfizer, BioNtech’s coronavirus vaccine not suitable for Pakistan: Dr Atta ur Rehman

Chairman of Prime Minister’s Taskforce on Science and Technology Dr Atta ur Rehman on Tuesday remarked that the Pfizer vaccine, being celebrated worldwide, is not suitable for Pakistan. “This vaccine is not suitable for Pakistan in my opinion,” the former head of the HEC told Geo Pakistan, and warned that it was “too early to celebrate” the news regarding the…

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CPEC and China’s dual circulation approach

The 10th Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) meeting on CPEC is about to happen. The agenda is being finalised and preparations are in full swing. The Government of Pakistan intends to discuss a host of infrastructure projects during the meeting, besides the three priority special economic zones. But in the meanwhile, some interesting developments are taking place globally and regionally that will…

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