Month: January 2021

The liquefied natural gas (LNG) suppliers have refused to give supplies to Pakistan for the month of February in the wake of recent massive hike in the prices of gas. According to details, Pakistan LNG Ltd (PLL) had advertised a tender on November 28, 2020 for the procurement of two spot LNG cargoes to be delivered in February 2021. On December 28, 2020 the bids were opened and the results were announced, and in accordance with the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules, the award intimation was made 10 days…

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Pakistan’s electricity sector is in deep trouble. The recent nationwide blackout on the night of January 9 is just another reminder of the crisis facing the collapsing power sector. But for an average consumer, the most visible impact of this crisis has been their ever-increasing electricity bill. A report published last week suggested that the government had decided to raise the base electricity tariff by Rs1.90 per unit from this month. The announcement, it is said, has been delayed in view of the increase in the fuel prices. The power…

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The monster of circular debt keeps growing in the power sector. Bad governance is the overwhelming source of the circular debt build-up that is officially projected to cross the Rs2.8 trillion mark by June 30. This is almost half of the country’s about Rs5.5tr total tax revenue this year. This means an addition of Rs500 billion during the current fiscal year at an average rate of almost Rs42bn per month, according to a report submitted by the Power Division to the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCOE) last week. The report…

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ISLAMABAD: As foreign traders of liquefied natural gas (LNG) default on supplies amid gas shortages, the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) will meet here on Monday (today) to review the overall situation, including discontinuation of gas supplies to a large number of industries on a long-term basis. Following reports that two state-owned foreign suppliers had declined to supply their two committed vessels for delivery in February, Pakistani authorities are reported to have salvaged at least one of the vessels through high-level diplomatic efforts. However, the government has confirmed that one…

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ISLAMABAD: With more powers to Special Assistant to PM on Power, Tabish Gauhar, the negotiations with the IPPs with regard to converting MoUs into the amended Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) seemed to have moved towards conclusion. “The IPPs and government negotiating team are set to initialise the amended PPAs, sometime in next week, however, the proper signing would be held when the BoDs of IPPs ratify them and the Federal Cabinet would also approve the initials done by the government’s team,” one of top officials at the Petroleum Division told…

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