Month: January 2021

STC and its partner in 5G network deployment in the Middle East, Huawei, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Saudi Aramco to launch a joint innovation program to study the application of 5G technology in the oil and gas industry and develop solutions. The MoU is expected to fuel economic growth and societal benefits in the Kingdom and around the world. Aramco and STC have reached a consensus that 5G is a key technology for the fourth industrial revolution and digital transformation in the oil and gas industry.…

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The beginning of commercial production by Lucky Cement’s 660-megawatt local coal-fired power project worth over $1 billion has faced a delay of around five months due to inability of the government to finish construction of transmission lines on time in the wake of Covid-19. The company has, however, refused to accept excuses from government agencies responsible to build the required power transmission infrastructure. In this regard, it has remained under contract with the authorities to launch commercial operation of the project by the middle of first quarter (Jul-Sept 2021) of…

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ISLAMABAD:ISLAMABAD:ISLAMABAD:The divestment of government of Pakistan’s remaining shares in Mari Petroleum has been held back due to observations made by the anticorruption watchdog. Sources told The Express Tribune that a meeting was held in the first week of January at the Privatisation Commission to discuss the divestment of Mari Petroleum’s shares. The meeting was chaired by the privatisation minister and attended by officials of the Petroleum Division as well as others. The participants were apprised that in a meeting held on August 5, 2019, both joint venture partners – Fauji…

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This was the first post I read at 12:00 midnight PST on January 9, 2021 and within five minutes, by just looking at (without reading) the number of comments, I knew this was a major power breakdown. As a student of crisis communications, there onwards I started noting the different pieces of information doing rounds on social media. They included speculation by the mainstream media about the causes of the breakdown, from “sources” talking about terrorist attacks, including misleading images of posts dating from 2015 as well as an attack…

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ISLAMABAD: The prices of key petroleum products — petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) — are estimated to go up by Rs9-11 per litre on Jan 31 for the first fortnight of February if straight calculations of Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) are accepted by the prime minister. However, based purely on international prices published in Platt’s Oilgram, the prices of petrol and HSD would need an increase of Rs2.30 and Rs2.11 per litre, respectively. A Petroleum Division official said that based on import shipments as of Jan 27, the…

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