Category: Recent Post

In a surprise move, the federal government on Saturday removed Petroleum Secretary Dr Arshad Mahmood from his post, giving more powers to the Power Division, which is reportedly responsible for the imminent oil crisis. The country is heading towards a crisis because of a massive slump in the off-take of furnace oil by oil marketers and power plants. The Power Division had given a “firm commitment” of furnace oil requirements to the oil refineries and the Pakistan State Oil (PSO). Following the commitment, the PSO had arranged two cargoes of furnace oil.…

Read More

The Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) has almost closed the chapter on 13 Renewable Energy (RE) projects of 600MW with the clear decision that no exceptions are admissible to any Alternative and Renewable Energy (ARE) project and all such projects will be treated in line with the approved policy, well-informed sources told Business Recorder. National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) Chairman Tauseef H Farooqi had sought the case of 13 RE projects but his arguments were not accepted by the competent fora including the Power Division and its attached organization, National…

Read More

With Russian troops massing on Ukraine’s border, and President Biden urging Russia’s Vladimir Putin not to invade, the geopolitics of Russian natural gas are growing increasingly intolerable. European gas imports are a mainstay of cash for Putin’s regime, with over one-third of Kremlin funding coming directly from oil and gas revenue, even as Russia increases repression at home, attempts to undermine democratic elections abroad and continues to use its gas as a geopolitical weapon against Europe. If that weren’t enough, Russia is the world’s largest emitter of methane, a super…

Read More

The price of crude oil has had a history of volatility since trading began on international exchanges and the New York Mercantile Exchange some 40 years ago, but the last two years have been unusually high as global economies have tried to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. The price of oil traded around $60 per barrel in January 2020 just before the pandemic began. By April, demand for petroleum had crashed and dropped to as low as $15. Prices bounced back in 2021, reaching $84 for West Texas Intermediate in…

Read More

The sales tax on petrol was 1.43% which has been reduced to 0% but the same tax on high-speed diesel has been increased to 7.20% from 6.75%, according to a notification issued by the Ministry of Finance and Revenue. However, the deduction of sales tax on petrol will not affect the price of petrol for consumers. The GST has been increased to 8.19% from 6.70% on kerosene oil and 0.46% from 0.20% on light diesel as well. The GST collected on petroleum sales goes to provinces. The reduction in the…

Read More