Category: Highlights

Power production increased over 4% to 14,630 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in August 2020 with economic activity back to pre-Covid-19 levels in Pakistan. Many industries, including the leading export earning sector of textile, cement and automobile manufacturing sectors, showed a notable recovery in their production in the month under review. The electricity generation had stood at 14,052 GWh in August last year, according to the power sector regulator – the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra). “Due to revival of economic activities, power production numbers for August 2020 have shown growth,” Topline…

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ISLAMABAD: The cabinet has decided to scrutinise credentials of shortlisted candidates for the post of member oil of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra). The decision came after the Cabinet Division tabled a summary for approval in a recent cabinet meeting to appoint a new member oil of Ogra. At present, seats of Ogra member oil and chairman are vacant and due to their absence, the quorum of the regulatory authority is not complete. Therefore, the regulator has become dysfunctional. Sources told The Express Tribune that the Cabinet Division…

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Cricket legend Shahid Afridi has appealed to the Sindh Government to join hands with him in his drive called “Educate a Child”.  The famous cricketer turned philanthropist made this appeal in a joint statement along with Zahid Saeed who is the CEO of his partner charity Green Crescent Trust (GCT) The SAF has been running the eight charitable school in Karachi enrolling  2400 underserved students for over two years in collaboration with the GCT that in total runs 150-plus charitable schools in Sindh having enrolment of 29,000 children of the…

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ISLAMABAD: Overruling the petroleum division’s objections to looming losses to its companies, the federal cabinet has approved doing away with the condition of “minimum 66 per cent take-or-pay commitment of RLNG (re-gasified liquefied natural gas) for three Punjab-based mega power plants” to earn better privatisation proceeds and scale down power sector liabilities of over Rs2.15 trillion. The petroleum division has put on record that without a budgeted subsidy, the decision will “simply be transferring circular debt from power division companies to petroleum division companies and in fact increasing it”. A…

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Only Honda Atlas Cars has been rolling out Euro IV vehicles. Others, including bike assemblers, have been making Euro II vehicles on the excuse that refineries are still producing Euro II fuels. Pakistan has banned imports of petroleum diesel of less than Euro V standard with effect from Aug 1 and Jan 1, 2021, respectively. The shift to higher-standard fuels will push oil marketing companies (OMCs) and refiners to make major operational changes with huge investment in a tough business environment. Sources in the refineries and OMCs have also shown…

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