Year: 2022

Coalmining In Thar Spells Disaster For Locals

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Without providing any alternative source of livelihood to the desert dwellers, the coal power companies have been encroaching on their farmlands and pastures, erecting fences around them, and banning the entry of local communities and their livestock. As if pains and sorrows of dispossession and destitution were not enough, the increasing depletion and poisoning of groundwater — an environmental externality of coal power development — has started to impact villages adversely. Groundwater is the most precious resource in this arid and water scarce region of the country. A majority of…

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Oil rises towards $116 as EU weighs Russian ban

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Oil rose towards $116 a barrel on Tuesday, adding to a 7% surge the previous day, supported by supply risks from a potential European Union oil embargo on Russia and concern about attacks on Saudi oil facilities. European Union foreign ministers are split on whether to join the United States in banning Russian oil. Some countries, including Germany, say the bloc is too dependent on Russia’s fossil fuels to withstand such a step.   “It is still not clear whether this will really happen,” wrote Carsten Fritsch of Commerzbank in…

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Oil Prices Fall Despite Surprise Draw In Crude Inventories

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The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that there was a surprise draw this week for crude oil of 4.28 million barrels, compared to analyst predictions of a 25,000 barrels build. U.S. crude inventories have shed some 77 million barrels since the start of 2021 and about 20 million barrels since the start of 2020. In the week prior, the API reported a build in crude oil inventories of 3.754 million barrels after analysts had predicted a draw of 1.867 million barrels. Oil prices were trading down on Tuesday as it…

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ADB Approves $300 Million Loan To Develop Pakistan’s Capital Markets

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The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $300 million loan to further develop Pakistan’s capital markets, promote private investment in the country, and help to mobilise domestic resources to finance sustainable growth.The second subprogramme of ADB’s Third Capital Market Development Programme builds on institutional and regulatory reforms put in place under the first subprogramme approved in 2020. It aims to catalyse institutional investor demand and increase the range of alternative financial instruments such as derivatives and commodity futures that are available to investors.Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Omar Ayub…

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Govt mulls excluding KPC premium from HSD price computation

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Petroleum Division proposed exclusion of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) premium from price computation of high speed diesel (HSD) for the April-June 2022 period due to price volatility in the global market, The News learnt on Tuesday. According to a summary of the Petroleum Division, due to the volatile market conditions in the wake of Russia-Ukraine war and high demand of HSD in the forthcoming March-May harvesting season, the existing benchmarking appears unsustainable and oil marketing companies (OMCs) would suffer substantial losses. “OMCs may be unable to import HSD leading to…

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