ISLAMABAD: The government on Thursday approved a fertiliser subsidy of Rs5.4 billion for farmers, two days after a ruckus in the federal cabinet over increasing inflation and the lack of a coordinated response to tackle it. The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet approved a subsidy of Rs1,000 per 50kg bag of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) fertiliser, according to a…
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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has decided to seek rollover of a $3 billion Chinese trade finance facility that it has actually used to repay maturing debt and is not in a financial position to return the money when the facility expires after six months. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has fully tapped the $3 billion or 20 billion Chinese yuan in…
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Late last year, a cross-section of pundits predicted that 2020 would go down as one of the most volatile years in the history of financial markets mainly due to escalating trade wars. Turns out they were half-right. The current year really has been one of the most volatile on record not due to the feared trade tensions but a much…
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In another sign that the second coronavirus wave is hitting fuel demand, oil trading firms are looking for new supertankers to use them as floating storage for diesel as demand is expected to suffer from the renewed lockdowns in major European economies, trade and shipping sources told Reuters. Diesel in global floating storage is expected to increase as major oil…
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Oil prices plummeted early on Wednesday, with Brent falling below $40 a barrel, dragged down by estimates of a surge in U.S. inventories and the surge in coronavirus cases in the United States and Europe. As of 9:44 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, before the EIA inventory report, WTI Crude was down by 5.66 percent at $37.33, and Brent Crude prices…
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U.S. residential heating oil prices at the start of the winter heating season are 28 percent lower than in the previous heating season due to lower crude oil prices and high inventories of distillates in the United States, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Tuesday. The 28-percent drop in heating oil prices at the start of the winter season…
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The Mexican government is ready to review offers for so-called farm-outs with Pemex if the projects proposed are feasible, Reuters has reported, quoting Energy Minister Rocio Nahle. This is a marked departure of Nahle’s previous skepticism about the benefits of Pemex working with foreign oil companies. In fact, just last month the Mexican government said it was working on a new…
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BP (NYSE: BP) avoided a second consecutive loss and beat analyst estimates as it reported on Tuesday a small profit for the third quarter after oil prices stabilized at around $40 a barrel from the slump in Q2. The UK-based supermajor, which is in the process of slashing 10,000 jobs, reported an underlying replacement cost profit—its proxy for net profit—of…
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Iran has decided to use local firms to develop a large offshore natural gas field, which was discovered by an Indian company and set to be developed by a group of Indian firms, Press Trust of India reported on Monday, citing sources with direct knowledge of the plans. An Indian consortium led by ONGC Videsh discovered the huge Farzad-B gas…
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U.S. oil and gas producer ConocoPhillips unveiled on Monday a target to reduce emissions from its operations to net zero by 2045-2055 in a first announcement from a major American oil firm setting specific targets to cut its carbon footprint. Unlike European oil majors – who have rushed to pledge various commitments to become net-zero energy companies – U.S. companies,…
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