Oil in longest rally in two years

LONDON: Oil extended its rally for a ninth day on Wednesday, its longest winning streak in two years, supported by producer supply cuts and hopes that vaccine rollouts will drive a recovery in demand. The American Petroleum Institute said on Tuesday crude inventories fell by 3.5 million barrels, versus expectations for a 985,000-barrel build. The Energy Information Administration’s official stocks report is due at 1530 GMT. Brent crude was up $0.44, or 0.7%, at $61.53 by 1247 GMT after touching a 13-month high of $61.61 earlier in the session. US…

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The might of metals in the clean energy transition

Metals. It isn’t often that we — most of us, anyway — think about them. They are like water or packaged foods, things that appear out of a faucet or on a grocery store shelf as if by some magic inception. But there is a scientific beginning to metals. And it’s something we ought to be thinking about, increasingly so. Here’s why: Minerals are critical to the transition to clean, green energy. Copper supplies, for example, need to increase by as much as 6 percent per year to meet the…

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Power tariff hiked by Rs1.53 per unit

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Wednesday increased power tariff by Rs1.53 per unit on account of monthly fuel charges adjustment (FCA) for December 2020. The increase will be applicable to consumers of all power distribution companies, except for K-Electric. The power distribution companies would collect the amount from consumers in the bills for February 2021. The regulator allowed the increase as the power distribution companies charged less than the actual cost of electricity generated from different fuels in December. The Central Power Purchasing Agency-Guarantee (CPPA-G), on behalf…

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Ogra allows Rs13.4 rate increase to SNGPL

ISLAMABAD: Rejecting a re­­quest for 123 per cent increase, the Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) on Wednesday allowed Rs13.42 per unit (2pc) raise in the prescribed price for Lahore-based Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL). The increase was determined on the request of gas utility on the basis of its estimated revenue requirement (ERR) for 2020-21. The regulator said it provisionally determined the shortfall in revenue required for the SNGPL at Rs4.35bn. “Accordingly, the revenue required for SNGPL is provisionally determined at Rs228.7bn and prescribed at Rs644 per million…

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NAB, Nepra to keep an eye on IPPs: minister

Says talks with banks under way to double their debt repayment tenure with IPPs• Four Discos to be given to private sector to curtail losses ISLAMABAD: The government on Wednesday said the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) or Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) would be free to proceed against independent power producers (IPPs) for any misdeed or criminality even after they agreed to give about Rs770 billion discount over the remaining 20-year life of their contracts. At the same time, the government is…

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