Energy

Qatar witnesses a prosperous start to 2021, first scoring a major political goal by restoring diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia and ending its almost 4-year long embargo. Following a political breakthrough come an unexpected revenue bonanza, which saw Doha happily riding the waves of spiking Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) prices in Asia. The combination of both developments – Qatar casting away its pariah state and probably playing a more nuanced …

Presently the Government of Pakistan is intending to introduce renewable energy in Pakistan in phases where the first phase expects 20 percent by 2025. No doubt, Pakistan is successfully overcoming energy crisis, which has direct and indirect impact on all sectors of the economy, by raise in generation as well as in transmission capacity of the system. Pakistan’s new Renewable Energy Policy is predicted to attract investment opportunities because of …

The Government of Pakistan has recently tabled an Amendment Bill to the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) Act (Regulation of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power Act 1997) to recover the stock of circular debt in the power sector from current consumers of electricity in the country. This has sparked a debate on the burden that will fall on consumers through the electricity tariff spike that will follow. …

There are new buzzwords in the marketplace, such as Solar power, Inverter systems, Lithium batteries. We here in Pakistan have a habit of giving opinion on technical, commercial, financial, legal, micro-financing etc. in abundance without knowledge or experience. We opine on each and every matter, like we do in case of religion, politics, energy mix, how to run factories, hospitals, hotels and son on. I worked in 4 other countries, …

Central banks around the world have slashed interest rates, though perhaps none as aggressively as State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). According to a recent report by Bloomberg, Pakistan has cut its interest rates the most this year, out of a survey of nine countries, including the US, Peru, South Africa, Turkey and Ukraine. Coronavirus has created ‘unique’ challenges for a monetary policy due to its non-economic origin. In last three …

The week ended on 13th March 2020 can be termed one of horrific weeks for crude oil producers and traders as prices went down about 50 percent since the start of the year. Oil rebounded a bit on Friday following movement in the US Congress to pass a coronavirus economic relief bill. Nevertheless, the near-term looks dire for oil markets, with supply rising quickly as demand continues to collapse. The added threat is likely …

For the first time in the history of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), Pakistan’s power sector regulator organized the Energy Week from 24-28 February 2020 in Islamabad. Five full days were dedicated to discuss various aspects of the power sector with the objective to listen to the views of sector experts; to figure out the most suitable and efficient solution of various challenges currently Pakistan’s power sector is facing …

Members of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are scheduled to meet in Vienna in first week of March 2020. Top of the agenda item is to decide production quotas in the aftermath of coronavirus spread. To arrive at further production cut will not be easy because of United States emerging as one of the largest oil producing country as well as exporting substantial quantity. Even the bigger concern is …

One completely fails to understand why even a thought of ending Saudi-Iranian animosity make the supporters of monarch jittery. If one could recollect lately Iraq made an attempt to ease tension between the two arc enemies, but turmoil was created in Iraq. Soon after two top military strategist, one each from Iran and Iraq were killed, the probability of war in the region increased manifold. Recently, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad …