Earlier this week we heard of PSO warning the government of the upcoming power crisis if the case of circular debts is taken up. It is now learned that PSO gets enough founds to keep supplies on to the IPPs. Express Tribune report gives the details.
The finance ministry has released Rs12 billion on an urgent basis to Pakistan State Oil (PSO) in order to help the public-sector oil marketing company avoid default. The release comes a day after the PSO management suspended supplies of furnace oil to independent power providers Hub Power Company (Hubco) and Kot Addu Power Company (Kapco).
“The finance ministry released a payment of Rs12 billion to PSO today (Saturday) and has also given assurances that another Rs24 billion will be paid to the company by Tuesday, September 21,” the PSO spokesperson told The Express Tribune. “In light of the release and commitments, we are resuming supplies to Hubco and Kapco.”
Read more…
Fuel, Government, PSO, power
Fuel, oil, power, PSO
The government is facing difficulties in unloading oil consignments from ships because of port congestion and infrastructure limitations, resulting in supply shortages in flood affected areas of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Northern parts of the country.
Sources in the petroleum ministry told Dawn on Monday that the country’s oil consumption had dropped by about 50 per cent after the recent floods as transport activities had substantially slumped because of damage caused to the road infrastructure.
They said the stocks of petroleum products diesel, furnace oil and petrol were enough for more than 28 days of the country’s usual requirement but transportation problems were resulting in short supplies in many parts of the country, particularly in Sindh and Gilgit-Baltistan.
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Energy, Events, Fuel, Infrastructure, Pakistan, Petrol
flood, Fuel, Petroleum
The state oil company, PSO already in litigation along with Petrosin over the auto-gas deal, it has now being disclosed by the company MD that a power group is involved in supply scams involving selling of cheap oil ahead of monthly price adjustments.
Here is an excerpt that appeared in Dawn News today.
A fresh scam in the oil supply chain surfaced on Thursday when the management of state-run Pakistan State Oil (PSO) officially confirmed that a powerful group in the company was involved in selling cheap oil to influential dealers ahead of monthly price adjustments to enable them to charge higher rates from consumers.
As the managing director of the country’s largest oil supplier, Mr Irfan Qureshi, broke the news before the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources, the committee’s chairman, Shaikh Waqas Akram, demanded an inquiry and its report within a week to identify officials involved in manipulating the supply chain to the benefit of dealers.
Mr Qureshi told the committee that PSO officials were found providing petroleum products to dealers on credit at the end of each month in anticipation of an increase in prices to earn a windfall at the cost of PSO. He said two officials had been held accountable for being involved in the malpractices and an inquiry had been in progress since April.
He said the practice had been going on for years and had now been brought to an end. He said six officials at the Lalpir depot had been suspended for embezzling Rs100 million. He said whenever the PSO took action against corrupt officials, courts reinstated them.
Read more: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/powerful-group-in-pso-involved-in-supply-scams-370
Fuel, Infrastructure, Oil, PSO, Pakistan
oil, prices, PSO, scam, supply
The strategic fuel reserves have alarmingly dwindled to just seven days for thermal powerhouses, and the government-owned oil marketing company, the Pakistan State Oil (PSO), is virtually penniless now as its outstanding dues, which mainly power sector owes to it, have surged to over Rs100 billion.
“The furnace oil reserves have fast depleted to just seven days from 25 days. If this situation continues, the whole country would plunge into darkness after one week,” a senior official at the Petroleum and Natural Resources Ministry told The News.
“The PSO has written three letters in latest correspondence, each to the Finance Ministry, the Petroleum and Natural Resources Ministry and the Water and Power Ministry intimating them about the appalling oil reserves stocks and its fiscal constraints, which are impeding the import of further fuel in the country,” the official added.
It is pertinent to mention that the PSO has scrapped the import of fuel oil tender because of cash constraints. The public sector oil marketing company in a letter to the Pepco written on February 9 says the entire oil import plan has been disturbed because of the unavailability of the required liquidity.
The letter says if the Pepco does not arrange substantial amount (at least Rs 25 billion) to clear the dues, the PSO will be forced to scrap the tenders. Refineries, which are running under the production capacity by 45 to 60 per cent in the wake of liquidity constraints, have also suspended the supply of products to the PSO as their outstanding dues have jacked up to the whopping figure of Rs 62 billion.
Via: The News
Fuel, Pakistan, Petrol
It is estimated that the coal resources of Pakistan were more than 185 billion tonnes. The present net demand of coal in the country was about 10.1 million tonnes out of which 4.1 million tonnes were produced locally and 6 million tonnes were imported.
To increase the coal production by 20 percent the Coal Sub-Group proposed that focus must be made on the improvement of underground transportation of coal and construction of roads from coal bearing zone to the market.
Daily Times adds:
The Coal Sub-Group emphasised on greater exploitation of the indigenous energy resources, which was an important strategy in Energy Security Action Plan, which envisaged the share of coal from the 6 percent to 19 percent in 2019, the sources maintained.
The group was of the view that the provincial governments were unable to provide the requisite assistance to the private coal miners to overcome the difficulties.
The sources said that in January 2007, Energy Logistic Committee (ELC) was constituted under the chairmanship of the secretary Petroleum and Natural Resources and the ELC constituted three sup-groups on coal, gas and oil, headed by respective director generals.
In order to achieve the objectives of the ELC, the Coal Sub-Group proposed that focus must be made on the improvement of underground transportation of coal and construction of road from coal bearing zone to the market through an umbrella PC-I.
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Energy, Fuel, Infrastructure, coal
Dawn has published a report which criticizes the exploration effort for gas in Pakistan.
The government has sought a report from the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) over ‘inordinate delay’ in the exploration of Pakistan’s largest gas field in Balochistan that has the capacity to make all imported fuel options redundant and save billions of dollars in foreign exchange.
Official documents made available to Dawn suggest that the Kohlu exploration block, spread over an area of 2500 square kilometres, possess an estimated reserves of about 22 trillion cubic feet, which are a little less than Pakistan’s total current proven gas reserves of about 29 trillion cubic feet (TCF).
‘This is such a big project for the country’s energy security that the government cannot afford to keep it in cold storage indefinitely,’ a senior government official said.
‘We have also taken up the issue with the prime minister who has assured full support and promised to take it up with the provincial government and security agencies,’ he said.
Of the 22 TCF, according to preliminary estimates, more than 15.4 TCF reserves are described as ‘recoverable.’ At $5 per million British Thermal Unit (MMBTU), the total value of 15.3 TCF translates into about $80 billion or around Rs6800 billion. Based on the current gas demand in the market, these reserves are believed to be sufficient to meet the energy requirements for several decades.
Petroleum ministry sources said that the OGDCL had been asked to furnish a detailed report on the Kohlu block by Dec 25, along with latest position of exploration and development being made to overcome security concerns following the recent Balochistan package announced by the prime minister.
Energy, Fuel, Gas, Pakistan
Yesterday we posted about US help for energy crisis. Now its the Chinese!
Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Lou Zhao Hui called on PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif here in Murree at his residence. Matters of Pak-China strategic relationship, bilateral issues, power crisis in Pakistan with special reference to load shedding were discussed in the meeting, said a press release issued here.
PML-N Quaid Muhammad Nawaz Sharif said that the country was facing worse crisis in the energy and power sectors for which China could be helpful by providing its expertise as well as investment in this sector. Muhammad Nawaz Sharif said that Pakistan Muslim League-N was playing its role to help out the government bringing the country out of economic, political and security crisis which, the country was facing due to the dictatorial regime of General Musharraf during which all the institutions were destroyed.
Moreover, extremism and violence was one of the results of the long years of military rule during which the Constitution was repeatedly trampled upon and the rights of the citizens violated with impunity. It was in view of these factors that he believed that the foremost task facing the country was to strengthen the institutions of democracy and ensure the rule of law.
Electricity, Energy, Fuel, Pakistan, power
China
Fuel cost is one of the most expensive items for many developing and developed countries. In Pakistan we have a lot of waste and inefficient use of our cars and commercial fleets. Perhaps high tech devices can help in this area. Check this out:
In an uncertain economy, organizations are turning to GPS-enabled Service Workforce and Fleet Management solutions to drive efficiencies into their service organizations so as to maintain customer satisfaction levels, drive resource utilization levels while controlling service-related costs. These firms are actively looking to increase visibility into all service resources via GPS, according to a recent research report titled “Service Workforce and Fleet Management: Driving Utilization with Location Intelligence,” published by the Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company.
“Organizations responding to our research indicate that they currently monitor and track the location of 35% of their workers and 47% of their vehicles,” said Sumair Dutta, senior research analyst, Aberdeen Group. “This is up from averages of 23% for workers and 35% for vehicles in 2008 with indications of further investments in 2010. These results are indicative of the value offered by GPS-enabled tracking, navigation and routing solutions in meeting cost containment and customer management pressures faced by today’s service and manufacturing organizations.”
Research findings in the Service Workforce and Fleet Management report indicate responding firms have seen the following average improvements in key service performance indicators since the adoption of GPS-enabled solutions:
– A 25% reduction in idle times
– A 32% increase in fleet utilization
– A 22% decrease in fuel costs and a 31% drop in daily mileage
– A 23% boost in workforce productivity
Via Telematics
Conservation, Fuel, Oil, Petrol
fleet, gps
