Category: Highlights

Oil executives talk down rapid shift to green energy as profits boom

Admin
solar-panel

Houston: Big Oil used an industry conference this week to argue against a rapid transition to green energy, as fossil fuel companies are emboldened by high demand and record profits despite rising alarm over climate change. Executives attending the annual CERAWeek get-together in Houston expressed confidence that fossil fuel consumption would continue growing, just months after world leaders at the COP28 climate summit pledged to begin “transitioning away from fossil fuels” and triple the use of renewables by 2030. “The environment right now is very positive for the oil and…

Read More

Oil sector seeks urgent LC limit hike to avert industry collapse

Admin
oil-and-gas

KARACHI: The Oil Marketing Association of Pakistan (OMAP) has sought an immediate increase in the letters of credit (LCs) limits for oil marketing companies (OMCs), citing the country’s dire financial straits. “The pressing concerns surrounding foreign exchange losses, OMC margins, sales tax, smuggling of Iranian diesel, infrastructure development cess, and the revision of the price mechanism have pushed this vital industry to the brink of collapse,” the association said in a letter to the petroleum minister, Musadiq Malik. The oil body said the sector’s financial stability has been disrupted, and…

Read More

Govt to offer OGDCL shares to Gulf investors

Admin
ogdcl

Pakistan hopes to get better price from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Kuwait ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s government is expected to ask friendly nations to invest in the country’s largest hydrocarbon explorer – Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) – in order to fetch a better price for the company. Background discussions with officials privy to the development revealed that Pakistan could offer shares of the state-owned company to friendly countries like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar, which may offer attractive prices. Earlier, the strategy to divest…

Read More

PM Shehbaz Sharif hands over ECC to finance minister

Admin
finance-minister

ISLAMABAD: Only a day after announcing formation of seven committees of the cabinet, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has decided to hand over the chairmanship of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) to Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, sources in the government told Dawn. The prime minister, however, will continue to head the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE), they said, adding the prime minister took the decision at a meeting on Saturday. Confirming the development, a senior member of the cabinet told Dawn that the prime minster had regretted he would be unable to chair the ECC meetings…

Read More

‘Longer IMF programme could lead to debt trap’

Admin
IMF-board

Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan warns against IMF dependency, calls for domestic reforms KARACHI: NUST Institute of Policy Studies (NIPS), Director General, Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan, has stated that Pakistan should seek the new International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan package of $3-4 billion for a maximum period of three years, as a longer and larger programme would be an economic disaster, potentially making Pakistan another Argentina, which is stuck in a debt trap. In a set of recommendations on the subject ‘Pakistan’s Economic Crisis: Challenges and The Way Forward’, Khan noted…

Read More