Month: March 2020

Rethinking relations between the United States and Pakistan is certainly not easy, given the turbulence, acrimony, and mutual recrimination which afflicts this decades long bilateral engagement. Yet, given that both countries still need each other, albeit for different reasons, necessitates identification of mutually beneficial means whereby this relationship may be made less erratic and more positive. We have recently prepared a white paper, “Leveraging the Moment of Change: Pathways to a Sustainable US-Pakistan Relationship”, which is a consensus document signed by leading experts on Pakistan within Washington DC. This paper…

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ISLAMABAD: The government has worked out a plan to ensure savings of $273 million (Rs43 billion) per year on import of petroleum products. The savings may be used either in lowering the price of petrol for end consumers or utilized for any productive project in oil and gas sector. And to this effect, top mandarins of the Petroleum Division gave a presentation to Prime Minister Imran Khan some days back as a part of out-of-box thinking to bring down the petroleum products’ prices with an aim to provide relief to…

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Crown Group, a local auto parts manufacturer in Pakistan launched a two-door and two-person hatchback electric vehicle (EV) a few weeks ago. It costs Rs400,000. The company has three and four-person versions as well, all under Rs1million — quite affordable compared to existing combustion engine models. Contingent on the now-forgotten implementation of the Electric Vehicle Policy, the company intends to ramp up production having partnered with eight Chinese EV companies. In January, rickshaw maker Sazgar Engineering launched its first electric rickshaw as well. Other players are bringing EV buses. It…

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The exodus of international partners and the global gas glut raise doubts about the economic viability of an already challenged sector Canada was hoping to catch the mid-2020s next global LNG export wave in a big way when a Shell-led consortium announced FID for the first phase of the massive LNG Canada project in October 2018.  The nascent Canadian LNG industry plans to produce the “cleanest” gas in the world, given the country’s abundant and cheap hydropower and world-leading regulatory and corporate efforts to mitigate methane emissions. But this may not…

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State-run Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has invited bids from wind and solar plants to supply 5,000 mega-watt (MW) power under a round-the-clock scheme. The scheme involves purchases of renewable energy, along with coal-based power, so that buyers have the assurance of uninterrupted electricity supply. Renewable power may include a combination of solar, wind and small hydro power with or without any energy storage system. It also aims to provide a leg-up to the renewable energy sector by addressing the issues of intermittency, limited hours of supply and low…

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