Year: 2021

Political as opposed to economic compulsions of a sitting government are understood only by those who have been in government – a reality rudely brought home to Prime Minister Imran Khan after his 2018 electoral win. This has been acknowledged by the Prime Minister in public statements, maintaining that he and his team were inexperienced, though half of the members of the team have either held portfolios in previous administrations or were declared ‘experts’. The economic team hired by the Prime Minister in 2019 – Dr Hafeez Sheikh to head…

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With cancellation of LNG cargoes which were due in the country after November 19 and failure in arranging eight LNG cargoes for December and January, the gas crisis will certainly touch a new high in the peak winter season and this situation has virtually rung the alarm bells for the industrial sector. Now the government is making its mind to either reduce or close down gas supply to captive power plants for the export sector during the peak winter season putting the surge in exports in a danger zone. The…

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The government has so far released funds amounting to Rs1,624.770 million to execute seven ongoing and six new petroleum-related projects under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP 2021-22) aimed at accelerating oil and gas exploration activities and achieving self-sufficiency in the energy sector. According to the official data as of September 3, an amount of Rs1,624.770 million has been authorized/disbursed out of the total allocation of Rs 3,249.54 million for 13 petroleum sector projects. As per the PSDP document, funds amounting to Rs1,473.683 million had been earmarked for seven ongoing…

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Pakistan’s total petroleum products off-take rose 17 per cent on a year-on-year basis to 1.99 million tonnes in October 2021, compared with 1.70 million tonnes sold in the same period of the last year, the official data showed. “Growth was witnessed in all the three major fuels, supported largely by recovering economic activity. The total sales grew 22 per cent on a year-on-year basis to 7.85 million tonnes during the first four months of FY22 because of increase in industrial and transportation activities,” according to a KASB Research report. Motor…

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In a shocking development, two LNG trading companies, GUNVOR and ENI, have willfully defaulted on their commitment for the current month of November, 2021 to provide Pakistan two LNG cargoes for mammoth monetary gains up to 200 percent profit in the international spot market. Under the term agreements with Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL), Italy-based ENI was to deliver the LNG cargo on November 26-27 and Singapore-GUNVOR on November 19-20. Both the companies have backed out from providing the LNG cargoes, putting the top authorities of Energy Ministry in the lurch.…

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