Category: Highlights

Islamabad — Pakistan has cut regasified LNG prices for the country’s two fertilizer producing plants that depend on LNG imports for feedstock, in line with low crude oil prices and to meet fertilizer demand growth in the next few months. The government lowered regasified LNG prices for fertilizer companies by 17% to Pakistan Rupees 756/MMBtu ($4.56) from Rupees 913/MMBtu. The price cut brings it closer to the roughly $4.50/MMBtu for term LNG imports into Pakistan, assuming 11% of Brent crude prices. The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, the government price regulator,…

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Iran has slashed crude oil production to its lowest level in four decades as storage tanks and vessels are almost completely full due to a fall in exports and refinery run cuts caused by the coronavirus pandemic, industry data showed. Total onshore crude stocks surged to 54 million barrels in April from 15 million barrels in January, and swelled further to 63 million barrels in June, according to FGE Energy. Market intelligence firm Kpler estimated Iranian average onshore crude storage for June to be around 66 million barrels. That is…

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LAHORE: The Gulpur hydroelectric power project has started certified commercial operation and is producing cheap electricity for the national grid, announced Nespak Managing Director Dr Tahir Masood. Gulpur is a run-of-the-river hydroelectric power generation project located on Poonch River, a major tributary of Jhelum River near Gulpur, Kotli district, Azad Kashmir. Project financing was provided by Korea Exim Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), International Finance Corporation (IFC), Islamic Development Bank and ECO Bank. The project has the capability of generating, on average, 102 megawatts of electricity. It was completed…

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ISLAMABAD: Amid protest and resistance by the oil industry, the gov-ernment has ordered ban on import of petrol and diesel of less than Euro-V standard with effect from Aug 1, 2020 and Jan 1, 2021 respectively. This has put the oil industry and the authorities in yet another conflict when the two sides were already poles apart on petroleum pricing mechanism and maintenance of 20-day stocks, leading to serious supply disruptions in the recent months. The oil industry has expressed ina-bility to abide by the fresh instructions, particularly because of…

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ISLAMABAD: Several questions have been raised over the privatisation of power distribution companies, which include giving monopoly rights to buyers of power firms. It is imperative that issues are addressed before moving towards successful privatisation. These questions were raised by Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Petroleum Nadeem Babar, who was also the chairman of task force on energy. Babar had proposed the beginning of privatisation of two distribution companies – Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) and Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco). However, he added that before such a process…

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