Day: November 2, 2022

Rs50bn escrow account activated for payment of dues to Chinese IPPs

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The government had to relax contractual conditions and shift about Rs50 billion worth of budgetary allocations for electricity subsidies to an escrow account for automatic partial payments to Chinese Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to pacify M/s Sinosure, a Chinese insurance company, into facilitating future projects in Pakistan. This was one of the key outstanding issues hampering the signing of new power projects as Sinosure had been reluctant for quite some time to provide insurance cover to Chinese investment in Pakistan. At least two major hydropower projects in Azad Kashmir with…

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Russia, Iran start oil-product swap as ties deepen under sanctions

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Russia started swapping oil products with Iran, Interfax reported, the latest sign of deepening ties between the two sanctioned countries pushed closer by Russia’s war in Ukraine. The range of swapped products will be expanded, Interfax cited Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak as saying, without giving further details, after a meeting with Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji in Grozny. The talks also covered potential Russian participation to increase Iranian oil production, the development of ports in the Mediterranean and Caspian Seas and an international north-south freight corridor connecting Russia to…

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Should richer countries pay compensation for wrecking the Earth’s climate?

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US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, on Wednesday, October 26, in a telephonic press briefing, laid out the government’s top priorities for the upcoming COP27 meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, as well as the Biden administration’s international climate efforts. The former US Secretary of State was seeking middle ground on a controversy that threatens to derail the upcoming world climate summit—a growing demand from poorer countries that the United States and other richer countries pay compensation as the culprits…

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Govt promoting production of clean electricity: CM

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Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief MinisterMahmood Khan on Tuesday said his government had taken ‘pragmatic’ steps for the production of cheaper and environment-friendly electricity in the province. Chairing a meeting that reviewed progress on the energy and power department’s projects here, the chief minister said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led provincial government was contributing significantly to power production in the country. “Ours is the only province, which is producing clean energy at the cheapest possible rates and thus, contributing to national development,” he said. Mr Mahmood said more than 7,400 schools, 5,672 mosques, 134…

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International coal market slump to benefit Pakistan’s power sector

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According to the power sector analysts, power sector consumes around 9 million tonnes of coal per annum against total consumption requirement of around 28 million tonnes. Moreover, Pakistan’s reliance on coal electricity generation varies from 12 percent to maximum 32 percent, depending on availability of cheap hydropower, as the cost of coal-based power generation was higher (third most expensive fuel after furnace oil and LNG). As per latest data of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), cost of electricity generation from coal during September 2022 stood around Rs18/kwh when average…

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