Month: April 2021

Pakistan loses $5b potential Qatari investment: Investment in RLNG plants, other sectors diverted to Bangladesh

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Lacklustre bureaucratic approach and inconsistent policies have resulted in losing $5 billion committed investment from Qatar in RLNG power plants, refurbishment of airports and hotels here in Pakistan and now it has been diverted to Bangladesh. Now Qatar’s Nebras Power Investment (QEWS QD) has acquired equity stake in Bangladesh’s Unique Meghnaghat Power. Also, the Nebras Power Investment Management has signed a sale and purchase agreement (SPA) with Unique Hotel and Resorts Limited (UHRL) to acquire a 24pc equity stake in Unique Meghnaghat Power Limited (UMPL) in Bangladesh. This acquisition enhances…

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Why review of energy sector woes should go beyond existing PPAs

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Studies have been conducted in various countries around the world, notable of which was in Sri Lanka and Pakistan in the 1990s on the economic loss of unsupplied electricity. It was found that every kilowatt (kW) that was not supplied had an economic cost of at least $1/Kwh — Sh108 — and resulted in major dips in the gross domestic product of a country. Allow me to park this thought for now and revisit it towards the end of this article. Last week, President Uhuru Kenyatta gazetted the appointment of…

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Pakistan awards exploration acreage

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Pakistan has awarded six onshore exploration blocks in Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab provinces with the acreage being snapped up by local state-owned companies. Read more: Pakistan seeks $5 billion investment to spark oil and gas activityPartners (OGDC) and Mari Petroleum were awarded blocks 3068-6 (Killa Saifullah) and 3067-7 (Sharan) in Balochistan; Block 3069-9 (Suleiman) in Balochistan was picked up by OGDC and Pakistan Petroleum; while OGDC also secured blocks 17 (Sujawal South) in Sindh province, 3273-5 (Jhelum) and 3272-16 (Lilla). CommitmentsThe minimum firm exploration commitment for the blocks is US$24.68…

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Defining moment for refining sector

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oil refinery crisis

The refining sector was facing problems even before the pandemic, recall my article two years ago, “Stringent condition: new regulation requires refineries to modernise”, where I highlighted a crisis-like situation for refineries in Pakistan post-IMO 2020 era. Lo and behold, the exogenous event of Covid-19 pandemic has now posed an existential threat to the already fragile and outdated refining sector in Pakistan. For the time being, the recent gas crisis came to the rescue as the utilisation of furnace oil in power generation increased 46% year-on-year, supporting the top and bottom lines…

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Total’s Force Majeure declaration on Mozambique LNG came prematurely, African Energy Chamber says

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The African Energy Chamber is disappointed about Total’s decision to declare force majeure on its Mozambique LNG Project. While the chamber stands in solidarity with Mozambique and Total and all energy investors, we believe the declaration of force majeure could have been prevented and comes prematurely. We encourage all parties involved to have a better and more open conversation to find a practical and pragmatic commonsense solution for the force majeure event to cease and for the project to resume, for the benefit not only of Total, but also of…

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