Day: December 21, 2021

Under one 20-year deal, CNOOC Gas & Power Group will take 2 million mt/year of LNG on a free-on-board basis from Venture Global’s proposed Plaquemines LNG facility that is planned to be built south of New Orleans. Under a second deal, which will last for a shorter duration that the companies did not disclose, state-owned CNOOC, or China National Offshore Oil Corp, will take 1.5 million mt/year of LNG from Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass facility that is under construction in southwest Louisiana. Production could begin within weeks at Calcasieu Pass.…

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The Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry has expressed serious concerns over discontinuation of gas supply to the industrial sector particularly to textile sector and demanded the government exempt the textile industry from gas loadshedding. The MCCI has urged the Prime Minister Imran Khan to intervene immediately to ensure supply of electricity and gas to textile mills and warned that if the sector was pushed against the wall and their genuine concerns were not addressed, workers and their families would take to the streets. Talking to reporters on Monday, MCCI…

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) as well as other multilaterals has come under considerable criticism in recent months with respect to their harsh upfront monetary and fiscal policy conditions that have eroded Pakistan’s growth rate, raised unemployment levels, fuelled inflation through administered pricing of utilities and has contributed to a sustained erosion of the rupee against the dollar. Two observations are critical. First, Pakistan is currently on its 23rd IMF programme, with each programme typically of three-year duration, which implies the country has been on a Fund programme for around…

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The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has approved $252 million loans to Pakistan for two projects — the construction of Mohmand Dam in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and for anti-Covid vaccine support in the country. The approval from the bank’s board of directors was conveyed by IDB President Dr Muhammad Sulaiman Al-Jasser to Minister for Economic Affairs Omar Ayub Khan at a meeting in Islamabad, the ministry said on Monday. A financing agreement of $72.5m for obtaining Covid-19 vaccines was signed by the Jeddah-based bank and the economics ministry. Dr Al-Jasser updated the…

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The cost of generating electricity has increased close to 85% in just one year, going up to Rs6.32 kWh in November 2021 compared to Rs3.42 kWh during the same month last year. The increase in cost has come mainly due to a rise in cost of furnace oil, coal and Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG), according to a note by brokerage house Ismail Iqbal Securities. Interestingly, the generation mix reveals lower dependence on RLNG in November 2021, with gas and nuclear sources of power stepping up to cover the void.…

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