May you live in interesting times,” runs the saying, supposedly an English translation of an ancient Chinese curse. For BP and Shell, the British companies that account for two of the world’s seven oil “supermajors”, the first quarter of 2022 has been painfully fascinating. Both were heavily enmeshed in Russia and now face having to write down a combined £24bn…
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Oil prices have risen for a fourth consecutive day with concerns over Russian supply disruptions trumping reduced demand expectations in China. Brent Crude climbed 1.7 percent to $109.40 per barrel, while WTI Crude moved up 1.03 percent to $106.50 per barrel. Both contracts are set to finish up on the week, and post their fifth straight monthly gains, buoyed by…
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Europe is importing record volumes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as it looks to cut as much Russian gas consumption as soon as possible. Unlike in previous years, Europe is now the most attractive destination for global LNG flows, outbidding Asia for spot supply as prices and demand in Europe have soared after the EU’s irreversible decision to stop being…
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The business community, while condemning the government’s new deadline of ending power loadshedding, has stressed the need to fulfill the earlier directives of the prime minister for a visible reduction in power outages by May Day. “It is unfortunate that the power plants of 5,700MW are available but they cannot generate electricity due to non-availability of fuel, resulting into power…
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In a fortnightly review, the federal government has decided to continue the subsidy on petroleum products for the first half of May against the recommendation of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) which had proposed an increase up to Rs20.81 per litre excluding petroleum levy (PL) and General Sales Tax (GST). Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb announced Thursday (April 28)…
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Competitive bidding for new power capacity in Pakistan has yet to be implemented, delaying the expected benefits to consumers in terms of lower generation costs and the much-needed transition to a more secure, sustainable, and affordable electricity sector, says the World Bank. The bank in its latest report “Pakistan Sustainable Energy Series, Variable Renewable Energy Competitive Bidding Study” stated that…
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The Petroleum Division has arranged 281,000 MMT furnace oil for May 2022 for the power sector to be supplied till May 24, 2022, fearing that supplies can be disputed during the first week of May due to the Eid holidays. On April 23, 2022, Power Division sent the revised plant-wise demand for furnace oil for the month of April, and…
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Power Division has sought additional resources of Rs 329 billion from the Finance Ministry to deal with load shedding, ranging from 8-14 hours a day across the country, as 5,739 MW electricity is not in the system due to unavailability of fuel. Of Rs 329 billion, Power Division has sought Rs 108 billion by May 25, 2022, Rs 136 billion…
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Pakistan must pursue its indigenous coal objective for its long-term strategic energy security. The utilisation of the massive lignite reserves of 175.5 billion tonnes, the world’s sixth largest and equivalent to combined oil reserves of Iran and Saudi Arabia, found in Sindh’s Thar region in place of the expensive, imported fuels — coal, furnace oil, and RLNG (re-gasified liquefied natural…
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