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Pipeline to Pakistan still viable, Iran says

Pipeline to Pakistan still in the cards for an Iranian government coping with sanctions targeting its energy sector. UPI/Shutterstock/Kodda "Pakistan has signed a deal to import 760 million cubic meters of natural gas per day from Iran and by the beginning of 2015, it should start receiving this amount of gas according to agreement," Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said. Once dubbed the Peace Pipeline, and including India as the terminal country, Iran has long held out its gas reserves as an opportunity for Eastern trading partners. Washington and its Western allies, however, have backed a rival project that would stretch from one of the world’s largest natural gas fields in Turkmenistan through Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. For Pakistan, sanctions targeting Iran’s energy sector meant it was time to reconsider the pipeline project. Government officials told Pakistani media outlets they were declaring force majeure on the pipeline , meaning it […]

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Pakistan looks for exit door with Iranian gas pipeline

Pakistan implies it’s looking for exit door from gas project Iran once dubbed the Peace Pipeline. UPI/Hamid Forotan ISLAMABAD, Nov. 25 (UPI) — The Pakistani government has invoked force majeure on an agreement to build a cross-border gas pipeline with Iran, a ministry official said Tuesday. A senior official inside the Pakistani Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources told the Pakistan Observer the government in Islamabad wanted to avoid litigation because of its decision to back away from a pipeline clouded by U.S. sanctions targeting Iran’s energy sector. "We have stepped up our efforts to get the gas deal changed and are in touch with authorities concerned in Iran and hopeful to get to result oriented talks some time in next month to resolve the issue amicably," he said. Once dubbed the Peace Pipeline, Iran aims to establish a new natural gas route eastward with its cross-border pipeline to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Cheap Electricity for Poor Squeezing Out Solar in India

Print Back to story The villagers of Dharnai in northern India had been living without electricity for more than 30 years when Greenpeace installed a microgrid to supply reliable, low-cost solar power. Then, within weeks of the lights flickering on in Dharnai’s mud huts, the government utility hooked up the grid — flooding the community with cheap power that undercut the fledgling solar network. While Greenpeace had come to Dharnai at Bihar’s invitation, the unannounced arrival of the state’s utility threatened to put it out of business. “We wanted to set this up as a business model,” said Abhishek Pratap, a Greenpeace campaigner overseeing the project. “Now we’re in course correction.” It’s a scenario playing out at dozens of ventures across India’s hinterlands. Competition from state utilities, with their erratic yet unbeatably cheap subsidized power, is scuppering efforts to supply clean, modern energy in a country where more people […]

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Kabul, Islamabad pursue gas pipeline connections

Islamabad agrees with Kabul to put renewed focus on multilateral natural gas pipeline. UPI/Hamid Forotan ISLAMABAD, Nov. 17 (UPI) — Islamabad thanks the leadership in Kabul for putting renewed emphasis behind a multilateral gas pipeline from Turkmenistan, the Pakistani prime minister said. Representatives from Turkmenistan, Afghanistan , Pakistan and India met last year in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, to sign a transaction advisory services agreement. That cleared the way for the Asian Development Bank to look for a consortium to find the money needed to build the $7.8 billion pipeline. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met Saturday with visiting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to discuss regional energy and trade initiatives, including TAPI. "We reaffirmed our resolve to forge a robust economic partnership – by expanding trade, promoting investment, improving infrastructure, building road and rail links and enhancing energy collaboration," he said. Pakistan and India would each get 1.3 […]

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Diesel Deregulation Frees Up Billions for India to Spend More Wisely

ByAnant Vijay Kala India’s decision to end government control of diesel fuel prices will save the government billions of dollars which can be better spent on more pressing needs such as building schools, roads and ports, analysts say. India announced over the weekend that it would end a decades-old policy of controlling the retail price of diesel fuel. Providing diesel at below-market rates cost the government about $10 billion last year, hampering India’s ability to spend on other things. The government had given up control over the prices of gasoline back in 2010 but had continued to regulate prices of diesel – the primary fuel used in trucks and tractors as well as for running generators used to power irrigation pumps. “It shields the government’s finances from volatility in global oil prices, because of which the subsidy bill often went up,” said Radhika Rao, an economist at DBS Bank. […]

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Modi Uses Oil Price Slump to Ease Curbs Deterring Chevron

A 22 percent slump in oil prices this year and the end of state polls are emboldening India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to press ahead with politically risky decisions to lure investors and revive the economy. His government freed diesel prices of state control for the first time in over a decade and raised tariffs on natural gas over the weekend in the biggest steps to curb subsidies and spur output. The changes build on Modi’s pledge to revitalize Asia’s third-largest economy as his party made gains in two provincial elections that may help bolster his power. Modi, who has made energy security his priority, is lifting restrictions that contributed to a decline in natural gas output every month since the mid-2010, while deterring Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Chevron Corp. (CVX) from bidding for oil and gas blocks. The restraints on diesel have also idled fuel pumps operated […]

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Cheapest OPEC Crude Since ’09 Still Too Costly for India

Print Back to story OPEC must keep cutting prices to displace competing supplies from Latin America and West Africa, Indian refiners said. Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq , which account for about half the output from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, will sell crude to Asia next month at the biggest discounts since at least January 2009. Hindustan Petroleum Corp. and Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd. say it’s not enough to undercut the alternatives. The highest U.S. output in almost 30 years is reducing America’s demand for oil and giving consumers in Asia a greater choice of suppliers, from Venezuela to Alaska and Nigeria. The glut has driven futures into a bear market and prompted OPEC members to cut prices to defend their market share. “Obviously the Middle-East producers want to retain market leadership in Asia,” said B.K. Namdeo, refineries director at Hindustan Petroleum, India ’s third-biggest state […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple