Month: December 2020

The LNG Fiasco

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IF you’re confused by all the talk around the LNG import issue these days, there is one thing to focus on which helps explain it all. Winter is peak season for gas demand, there are always shortages as everyone knows for many years now, and arrangements for LNG imports for December, January and February have to be made months in advance. Failure to make advance arrangements means higher costs. And that is exactly what has happened here. The way LNG imports work is a little more complex than oil deliveries.…

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Hubco power plant offers govt buyout for Rs65 billion

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ISLAMABAD: In a major development, the Hubco Power Plant in Balochistan that operates only on one percent of its capacity in the entire year and the government owes it Rs260 billion as capacity payments for next seven years, has offered the federal government to buy it out for Rs65 billion. Tabish Gauhar, Special Assistant to Prime Minister, confirmed to The News, saying: “CEO of Hubco Power Plant Khalid Mansoor along with his legal team came up with the proposal offering the federal government to buy it out at Rs65 billion.”…

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Oil Price Rally Reverses As Inventories Balloon

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The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported on Tuesday a build in crude oil inventories of 4.146 million barrels for the week ending November 27. Analysts had predicted an inventory draw of 2.358 million barrels for the week. In the previous week, the API reported a build in oil inventories of 3.8-million barrels, after analysts had predicted a much smaller build of just 127,000 barrels. Oil prices were trading down on Tuesday afternoon before the API’s data release despite daily news of Covid-19 vaccine progress, after OPEC on Monday ended its…

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China’s Big Plastic Ban Is A Massive Failure

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sea pollution

Back in 2008, Beijing introduced a nationwide ban on ultra-thin plastic bags in a bid to tame the plastics menace that had earned the nation the reputation as the world’s largest generator of waste and also the largest source of waste plastic flowing into our oceans. But more than a decade since the policy was unveiled, use of these banned ultra-thin bags is still rampant, including in Jilin Province, home to the country’s strictest restrictions on plastic bags. And now, Beijing intends to phase in a raft of new anti-plastic…

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Pakistan looks for financial consultant as TAPI up for grabs

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KARACHI: Pakistan is hiring a consultant to update financial and commercial aspects, including pricing formula, related to trans-Afghanistan pipeline that targets first gas flow in next four years, it was learnt on Tuesday. State-owned Inter State Gas Systems (ISGS) wants international/local firms for provision of commercial consultancy services with respect to the commercial and financial aspect of Turkmenistan-Afghanistan Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project, including gas pricing mechanism, and negotiation strategy, according to a document available with this scribe. ISGS intends to hire services of local/international consultancy firm having experience relating…

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