OPEC+ will take a more hands-on approach to global oil markets now that it plans to meet more frequently, Bloomberg has reported, citing the leaders of the group, Saudi Arabia and Russia. “We are meeting monthly because we believe that the market is still not recovered and is still extremely volatile,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister and former Energy Minister Alexander…
Read MoreDay: December 21, 2020
PetroChina Makes Huge Gas Find
PetroChina discovered a natural gas field with reserves in excess of 100 billion cubic meters, Chinese states news agency Xinhua reported this weekend. The agency cited a company official who said the field could produce 610,000 cubic meters of gas plus 106.3 cubic meters of crude oil daily. “The discovery marks a major breakthrough in gas exploration in the southern…
Read MoreObservers see rays of hope for 2021 in Canada’s gloomy oil and gas sector
The sombre mood that has gripped the Calgary-based oilpatch for several years is starting to show flickers of hope, with more financially secure companies making moves to grow in 2021. Recent export pipeline news is offsetting the ongoing reality of volatile commodity prices, general investor distaste for the sector and regulatory uncertainty and leading to more mergers and targeted increases…
Read MorePSEs – They Can’t Breathe on Their Own – I
Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) are in news again and we all know the reasons. The sustained failure of governments to successfully run them says a lot about priorities of the rulers. PSM was supposed to serve as the mainstay of industrial development, however, its mismanagement reached such levels that since 2006 governments have made attempts…
Read MoreCould Pipelines Bypass The World’s Most Critical Oil Chokepoint?
In the last decade, the humble Strait of Hormuz has seen a fifth of the world’s oil supply, a third of all liquefied natural gas (LNG), and a third of all seaborne imports and exports in the world pass through its narrow waters. The oil tanker-choked passage is located in a strategic and geopolitical hotspot between Iran and the Arabian…
Read MorePM Imran admits ignorance about Pakistan’s power sector woes before taking office
LAHORE – Prime Minister Imran Khan has admitted he was not fully aware of how bad Pakistan’s financial situation was when he came into power two years ago. The cricketer-turned politician, who became the 22nd premier of the South Asian country in 2018, appeared on a national TV for an interview to share, “Before becoming the prime minister, I was…
Read MoreWAPDA under a Dynamic Chairman Overcoming water shortages, completion of huge multiple projects get underway:
Daily Pakistan Observer interviewed him to learn about his contribution in bringing back the past glory of WAPDA and it is being presented for the readers in the form of questions and answers.PO: What are your achievements as Chairman WAPDA from the year 2016 onward after taking the charge of this office?CW:The base of whatever we developed in WAPDA was…
Read MoreThe economics of a greener coal in Thar Coalfields
Speaking at the Climate Ambition Summit, Prime Minister Imran Khan took a clear position that Pakistan will not be utilising coal for power generation, and that indigenous coal would be used to produce energy either through ‘coal to liquid’, or through ‘coal to gas’, such that coal does not have to be burned. The idea is a moonshot, but with…
Read MoreCompetitive power market consultation begins tomorrow
ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) will begin on Tuesday (tomorrow) public consultation over a plan it had approved last month to set off operations of wholesale competitive electricity market in April 2022. The design and implementation plan of the Competitive Trading Bilateral Contract Market (CTBCM), which was approved last month, entails action plans from institutional restructuring and…
Read MoreFirst Turkey-China freight train reaches its destination in historic trip
In a major milestone, the first train carrying goods from Turkey to China has reached its destination, Turkey’s transport and infrastructure minister said. “Announcing Turkey’s power in logistics to the world from every city it passed through, the China Export Train is our victory in rail transport,” Adil Karaismailoglu wrote on Twitter. The train set off from Istanbul on December…
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