Category: Highlights

A report of the Standing Committee on Natural Resources presented before the House of Commons rang the alarm bell on how important it is for Canada to secure a supply of critical minerals, particularly in the face of China’s dominance. Currently, the Asian giant owns as much as 80% of the global processing capacity for rare earths, as it has been investing for decades in acquiring strategic mineral assets across the world, and — according to data gathered by the committee — it is likely to hold about 67% of…

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Water used in oil and gas well drilling may become classified as hazardous waste, complicating the lives of companies that use it if a new bill, sponsored by a New Jersey Congressman, becomes a law. The Climate Leadership and Environmental Action for our Nation’s Future Act, or the CLEAN Future Act, for short, calls for a variety of unsurprising steps towards a more environmentally sustainable energy system, including everything that’s been hogging the headlines lately, from EVs to heat pumps and building retrofits. Notably for the oil and gas industry,…

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The Central Power Purchasing Agency-Guaranteed (CPPA-G) is giving final touches to rules for the establishment of a wholesale electricity market and proposed legislative changes in the current electricity mechanism, scheduled to be effective from April, 2022, well-informed sources told Business Recorder. The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet in its decision of April 30, 2015 mandated CPPA-G to prepare a comprehensive Competitive Trading Bilateral Contract Market (CTBCM) design and plan for transition of the power market. However, CPPA-G took five years to finalise a detailed design as the Power…

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The United Kingdom has announced support to capacity building initiatives for the brick kiln sector in Pakistan to reduce emission for improving air quality and reducing smog. These views were expressed by Christian Turner, British High Commissioner to Pakistan in a press statement issued in connection with launching of UK support to the brick kiln sector to reduce emission. “The UK support will start from Punjab province where over 11,000 brick kilns are concentrated in agricultural heartland and by improving air quality, reducing smog, cleaner brick production processes will have…

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has postponed sixth review of its $6 billion bailout programme for Pakistan. The review talks did not make headway and therefore now the assessment will take place in September. That might not appear strange at a first glance. Pakistan has already had its previous reviews done together in March because of the exceptional situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic. For keen observers, however, this is a setback. The message that it sends out to other global lenders is not good — Pakistan has not fully…

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