Month: September 2021

The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) is said to have initiated a probe into the shadowy affairs of M/s Hascol as the company allegedly presented tailored accounts for acquisition of M/s Vitol Dubai Limited, well-informed sources told Business Recorder. “CCP has the power to scrap or change the merger’s approvals of M/s Hascol Petroleum Limited and M/s Vitol Dubai Limited in terms of Section 11(14) of the Act, if it is found that there were discrepancies in the data/ accounts provided by the firm,” the sources added. The CCP granted…

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The Council of Common Interests (CCI) has approved the IGCEP (Indicated Generation Capacity Expansion Plan) model, which will allow efficient usage of electricity, said Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar on Monday. Azhar, in a series of tweets, said that the model, which was pending since 2005, would only allow power generation to be added when it is needed i.e. based on demand-supply projections, and will be utilising the least-cost basis concept through open competitive bidding. The federal minister was of the view that through the implementation of IGCEP model issues…

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The economy is treading its path in the recovery phase. It has started to experience challenges on the external front. Although there is a slight uptick in the statistics of exports, imports have outpaced exports by a great margin. Provisional statistics of August 2021 shows that trade deficit has crossed the $4 billion mark, which is quite unprecedented. Remittances have almost remained at the level of last year. In order to maintain the current trend of remittances, the government has already announced incentives as there is expectation of a slight…

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At the moment, Pakistan gas supply risk is increasing due to depletion of domestic gas resources and increasing reliance on imported liquefied natural gas (LNG). It is expected that reliance on LNG will increase with the continuous depletion of local fields and increasing demand. Several times, reportedly, the line pack pressure has increased beyond safe levels, risking the system. Pakistan has adopted a Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) model as opposed to land-based gas terminals – the latter has considerable storage space as opposed to the FSRU. Thus, prima…

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Expressing concern over long delays, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has directed the power sector entities concerned to immediately include hydroelectric power in the definition and scope of renewable energy and submit a compliance report at the earliest. In a letter to managing director of the National Transmission & Despatch Company (NTDC), managing director of the Private Power & Infrastructure Board (PPIB) and chief executive officer of the Alternative Energy Development Board (ARDB), the regulator recalled that last year it had asked for inclusion of “hydropower in the…

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