Pakistan has decided to increase import of electricity to 70MW from Iran to meet the needs of Gwadar even though an earlier plan to import additional electricity hit a snag due to US sanctions. Pakistan and China are developing Gwadar Port under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the latter is also setting up a 300MW coalfired power plant. Pakistan…
Read MoreMonth: August 2021
Govt defers approval of new IGCEP
A cabinet body on Monday deferred approval of a World Bank dictated new power generation capacity plan after governments of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and Punjab raised issues of adverse impact of the plan on relations with China and economic growth. The meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCOE) had been called to give approval of the Indicative Generation Capacity…
Read MoreTaliban inherit untapped $1trn trove of minerals
The Taliban now hold the keys to an untouched trillion-dollar trove of minerals including some that could power the world’s transition to renewable energies, but Afghanistan has long struggled to tap its vast deposits. The Taliban are already in a financial bind since they returned to power 20 years after their ouster, as major aid donors halted their support for…
Read MoreIran’s president says ‘a lot of possibilities’ for oil sales as nuclear talks stalled
During his speech, Raisi said one of his priorities will be to export more added-value refined oil products. Iran produced 2.52 million b/d in July, its highest since April 2019, according to the latest S&P Global Platts survey. Despite US sanctions that are intended to heavily penalize buyers of Iranian oil, China’s independent refineries have maintained some level of Iranian…
Read MoreNew windows for financial inclusion
WFor the longest time, Pakistani banks have come under fire for being rent-seeking organisations that do nothing but park the public’s money in risk-free government securities. That is well-evidenced by the investment-to-deposits ratio consistently staying well above 60 per cent, and clocking in at 75pc in July. This government borrowing in turn leads to crowding out of the private sector,…
Read MoreUtilising LNG terminals’ spare capacity: Govt seeks NAB’s green light
The government has sought the National Accountability Bureau’s green light to utilise the 330 mmcfd spare capacity available at both the LNG terminals’ FSRUs (Floating Storage Regasification Units) to avoid gas load-shedding in the winter season. Well-informed sources told The News that the Petroleum Division had written a letter to the NAB in this regard. The NAB is currently investigating…
Read MoreThe Middle East is running out of water, and parts of it are becoming uninhabitable
In Jordan, one of the most water stressed countries in the world, people have become used to living with very little water.A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showed that Jordanians will have to halve their per capita use of water by the end of the century. Most Jordanians on lower incomes will live on…
Read MoreCASA-1000 project terms may be renegotiated
CASA-1000 is a power transmission project from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan passing through Afghanistan to Pakistan. TAPI is a gas pipeline project designed to import gas from Turkmenistan. While we need gas, we are beset by the problem of excess capacity, of which more is to come in the next 10 years. Projections are that the worse has yet to come…
Read MorePARCO Board appoints new deputy MD
The Board of Directors (BoD) of the Pak-Arab Refinery Company Limited (PARCO) has appointed Irteza Qureshi as the new deputy managing director (DMD) in the country. The refinery is a joint venture between Pakistan and UAE. Qureshi will assume charge of his office during the first week of Sept 2021. He is currently working in Oil and Gas Development Company…
Read MorePSO gets highest-ever bid for LNG cargo at $25.30 per MMBtu
Pakistan State Oil (PSO) here on Friday got the highest-ever bid from the Qatar Petroleum (QP) Trading at 34.6688 percent of the Brent that translates into $25.30 per MMBtu for spot LNG cargo required to be delivered for September 16-17. The state-owned entity also received the bid price from VITOL at 24.5456 percent of Brent, meaning $17.91 MMBtu for the…
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