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Pakistan has sanctions jitters over Iranian gas pipeline

A planned natural gas pipeline from Iran isn’t protected from Western economic sanctions, the Pakistani Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources said. A Pakistani Senate committee was told by the ministry that relaxed sanctions that came as a result of last year’s interim nuclear deal with Iran didn’t extend to a planned natural gas pipeline from Iran, Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported Tuesday. Pakistan says its aging infrastructure has left it with a crumbling energy sector and a subsequent need for an external source of natural gas. Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said companies normally slated for pipeline construction on the Pakistani side of the border would likely face sanctions once the work began. Iran says it has the pipeline completed on its side of the border. The Pakistani government said it wants to meet with its Iranian counterparts to discuss the issue later this […]

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India urges Asian unity for fair LNG pricing

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged Asian buyers of imported liquefied natural gas to unite to demand fair pricing. LNG prices in Asia are higher than those in Europe and North America because the cost in Asia is linked to crude oil prices under long-term contracts. Speaking at the dedication of Petronet’s Kochi LNG terminal in Kerala Saturday, Singh said Asia "has been the driver of the global LNG demand in recent times. It is therefore important that major buyers of LNG in Asia come together to demand a fair pricing mechanism for gas being imported from outside of Asia." "I hope to see India contribute towards an effort of this kind in the future," the prime minister added. Gas buyers from India, China, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan met in December to discuss how they could use their collective purchasing power to […]

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Reliance Industries To Up Output from India's Richest Gas Deposit

Reliance Industries Ltd. will raise natural gas output from a new well in India’s richest gas deposit from this month, which could help it to reverse months of declining output. The company is expecting to add between 1.5-2 million metric standard cubic metres a day (MMSCMD) by this month from its current output level of around 12 MMSCMD. The additional output will come from the well located in MA field in the east coast Krishna-Godavri D 6 block, a company spokesman told The Wall Street Journal on Friday. Production in the east coast KG D-6 block has declined from around 61 MMSCMD in 2010, he said. Reliance says the decline in natural gas output from the east coast block is due to geological complexities. Any additional natural gas output would be welcomed by India, which imports nearly 75% of its energy needs to feed […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Reliance Industries To Up Output from India’s Richest Gas Deposit

Reliance Industries Ltd. will raise natural gas output from a new well in India’s richest gas deposit from this month, which could help it to reverse months of declining output. The company is expecting to add between 1.5-2 million metric standard cubic metres a day (MMSCMD) by this month from its current output level of around 12 MMSCMD. The additional output will come from the well located in MA field in the east coast Krishna-Godavri D 6 block, a company spokesman told The Wall Street Journal on Friday. Production in the east coast KG D-6 block has declined from around 61 MMSCMD in 2010, he said. Reliance says the decline in natural gas output from the east coast block is due to geological complexities. Any additional natural gas output would be welcomed by India, which imports nearly 75% of its energy needs to feed […]

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Exclusive: China commits $6.5 billion for Pakistani nuclear project

China has committed $6.5 billion to finance the construction of a major nuclear power project in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi as it seeks to strengthen ties with its strategic partner, Pakistani officials said. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif broke ground on the $9.59 billion project last month but officials have provided few details of how they plan to finance it. Financing documents seen by Reuters showed China National Nuclear Cooperation (CNNC) has promised to grant a loan of at least $6.5 billion to finance the project which will have two reactors with a capacity of 1,100 megawatts each. Two members of the government’s energy team and three sources close to the deal confirmed this. CNNC was not available for comment. "China has complete confidence in Pakistan’s capacity to run a nuclear power plant with all checks in place," said Ansar Parvez, chairman of the Pakistan […]

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Water security: ‘Water scarcity has put survival in jeopardy’

Increasing population worldwide, particularly in Pakistan has caused deterioration of the environment and challenges of food and water security, speakers at a seminar on Integrated Flood Management said on Tuesday. The seminar was organised at the New Senate Hall by the Water Management Research Centre of the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. It was chaired by Vice Chancellor Iqrar Ahmad Khan. Dr Khan said 43 per cent of the world’s population lived in urban centres… urbanisation was also on the rise in Asia. By 2020, half of Asia’s population would be living in cities, he said. “We need to take emergency measures to provide water facilities for cities and create awareness about rational use of water,” said Dr Khan. Pakistan is barely above the 1,000 cubic metres per capita benchmark for water scarcity, he said. This would worsen in the […]

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Iran advises Pakistan to seek outside help on pipeline

An Iranian deputy energy minister said his government was recommending Pakistan look for a third party to help finance a natural gas pipeline from Iran. "Iran’s Petroleum Minister Bijan Zanganeh recommended Islamabad demand help from third-party companies for the completion and acceleration of the project on the Pakistani soil," Ali Majedi, a deputy petroleum minister in charge of international affairs, said. He was quoted by The News International, a Pakistani newspaper, as saying Monday it was possible that some of those companies could buy natural gas from Iran and then sell it to Pakistan. Iran last week backed out of a $500 million finance commitment to help Pakistan build the pipeline on its side of the border because of the sanctions constraints. Pakistani Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said his government was still interested in the project, though it was […]

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India may face gas shortage

A Parliamentary standing committee has expressed fear that India could witness acute shortage of natural gas in two years, which may not be met even through imports due to lack of infrastructure. “As the government pursued the economic policy to achieve high growth, the demand for natural gas has also sharply increased in India during the past few years, and is expected to escalate further,” said the Parliamentary standing committee on petroleum and natural gas in a report. “As during 2012-13 there was only 134 million standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) of gas available including the imported LNG against the demand of 286 mmscmd. Thus there was huge unmet demand of 152 mmscmd,” it said. It said that in 2015-16, the expected gap would be to the tune of 300 mmscmd. “As against the demand of 439 mmscmd, the available gas supply would be 139 mmscmd […]

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Pakistani Shi’ite cleric shot dead in reprisal attack

A prominent Pakistani Shi’ite Muslim cleric has been shot dead in an apparent reprisal attack following the murder this month of a Sunni Muslim leader, police said on Monday. Sectarian violence has been on the rise in Pakistan, adding to the list of concerns for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at a time when security forces are already stretched fighting an escalating Taliban insurgency in the northwest of the country. Allama Nasir Abbas, leader of Tehreek Nifaz Fiqah-e-Jafaria, a banned Shi’ite organisation, was shot by unknown gunmen on a motorbike as he drove home after addressing a religious gathering in the city of Lahore on Sunday evening. "It’s a targeted attack. The gunmen shot him from close range when he was driving home along with his driver and a friend," Lahore police chief Chaudhry Shafeeq told Reuters. "Abbas died on the way to hospital. His driver and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Pakistani Shi'ite cleric shot dead in reprisal attack

A prominent Pakistani Shi’ite Muslim cleric has been shot dead in an apparent reprisal attack following the murder this month of a Sunni Muslim leader, police said on Monday. Sectarian violence has been on the rise in Pakistan, adding to the list of concerns for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at a time when security forces are already stretched fighting an escalating Taliban insurgency in the northwest of the country. Allama Nasir Abbas, leader of Tehreek Nifaz Fiqah-e-Jafaria, a banned Shi’ite organisation, was shot by unknown gunmen on a motorbike as he drove home after addressing a religious gathering in the city of Lahore on Sunday evening. "It’s a targeted attack. The gunmen shot him from close range when he was driving home along with his driver and a friend," Lahore police chief Chaudhry Shafeeq told Reuters. "Abbas died on the way to hospital. His driver and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple