Tag: Energy

KARACHI - China Three Gorges Corp, the country's largest hydropower developer, is ready to invest $15 billion in Pakistan's troubled energy sector to add 10,000 megawatts to its grid in 10 years, a senior company official said on Thursday.
Pakistan faced a power shortfall that peaked at between 4,000 and 5,000MW during the 2010 summer, sparking street protests and adding to the government's problems. The power crisis has crippled industry, and frequent power outages last up to

KARACHI - With regards to the blue chip sectors at KSE, a major decline was witnessed in the oil and gas sector which showing a decline of 12.6 percent, while OGDC was a major contributor in declining of the sector, declined by 21 percent during the first quarter of 2011, while the market remained volatile and closed with a decline of 1.8 percent in quarterly terms amid net foreign selling and uncertainty on political front.
However, the food and chemicals sectors supported the

ISLAMABAD - Since many of the ongoing energy projects in the country are being completed under Chinese assistance, the Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar has directed the departments concerned to reprioritise the same. He observed that revamping process would also be discussed at the forthcoming meeting of Pakistan China energy working group. An official source said that the minister gave these directions at a specially convened meeting on the energy sector projects. He

KARACHI - Germany's renewable energy technology sector is a success story and the country has the world's largest wind power sector and one of the largest solar power markets. Germany is planning to boost this share to at least 30 percent by 2020.
This was stated by the German Consul General Dr Christian Brecht in his speech at the international conference on Alternative Energy and Power held at Karachi Expo Centre. He said the topic of alternative energy has emerged as a very

LOS ANGELES - Critics skewered James Franco for a poor job co-hosting the Oscars with some saying he looked stoned onstage, but on Thursday, the actor said it was likely low energy, not dope, that was to blame. Franco, who hosted the world's top film awards in February alongside actress Anne Hathaway, told David Letterman on his talk show that he had thought about his poor reviews and speculation he was under the influence of marijuana and he thought he knew why. "I love her, but Anne

TOKYO - Japan's trade ministry ordered nuclear power plant operators to take immediate steps to improve emergency preparedness and will review energy policies to promote renewable sources and ease power shortages as it grapples with a nuclear safety crisis.
The ministry said on Wednesday that nuclear plants would be required by mid-April to deploy back-up mobile power generators and fire trucks able to pump water, while beefing up training programmes and manuals, aiming to avoid

KARACHI - Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar, who is also chairman of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), pledged the government's full support to energy conservation measures and for the protection of environment.
Mukhtar was speaking on Saturday at PIA's joining ceremony of Earth Hour campaign. As part of the Earth Hour campaign, all non-essential lights at the PIA buildings and the PIA business centres were switched off for one hour, between 8:30pm and 9:30pm.
Earth

KARACHI - Aggressive buying was witnessed in the energy sector as oil prices continued their upward trend and traded above $105 per barrel owing to supply concerns in the Middle East led by the unrest in Libya. Announcement of forward cover on FX contracts by the central bank gave the much needed comfort to local business houses. The KSE-100 index managed to close at a level of 11,564, up 76 points with 63 million shares traded today. Foreign institutional investors were rumored to be

KARACHI - Despite having the potential of generating 50,000 megawatts of solar energy, the Sindh government is yet to initiate any major solar energy scheme. The only one planned, in 2009, ended up in cold storage due to the apathy of the authorities concerned, Pakistan Today has learnt.
The planned scheme was meant to generate 50MW electricity through solar energy, and was included in the Annual Development Programme (ADP) 2009-10. Interestingly, only a single meeting of Sindh's

LAHORE - The US has been very clear on the need to support Pakistan's energy development at the Nuclear Suppliers Group forum, Robert O Blake, Jr, the assistant US secretary on Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, said late on Friday. He was speaking at a press conference in Beijing after the conclusion of discussions with counterparts from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Asked about US concerns over the China-Pakistan nuclear agreement, Blake said the US expected

LAHORE - Fauji Foundation has entered into an agreement for equity commitments of approximately Rs 6.0 billion, of which around $20 million is being provided as foreign direct investment (FDI) by CapAsia, Singapore, through the Islamic Infrastructure Fund. Fauji Foundation in collaboration with Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, Tapal Group and CapAsia will establish two wind energy farms of 50MW each in Gharo Sindh with an investment of $260 million.
The projects will be implemented

ISLAMABAD - The government plans to raise $ 2 billion by offloading shares of banks and energy companies on the local stock exchanges as well as exchangeable bonds in the international markets to bridge the rising fiscal deficit during the current fiscal year. Privatisation Minister Syed Naveed Qamar said in a statement that the government would offload some of its shares in the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Habib Bank Limited (HBL), Kot Addu Power Company (KAPCO) and Pakistan

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan can generate over 350,000 MW electricity through only wind energy against the country's total demand of about 21,000 MW peak summer, necessitating solid steps to explore the potential. Official sources in Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) told APP that the country's has numerous resources to get energy and over 50,000 MW energy could be generated only in Gharo-Keti Bandar corridor where average wind speed is more than seven meter per second.
They

ISLAMABAD - Environment Secretary Khawaja Muhammad Naeem has said that Pakistan's energy mix is highly dependent on oil and gas. It has to spend around $10-12 billion a year on the import of crude oil and deficit petroleum products. He stated this while addressing in a workshop on the promotion of energy conservation and safety standards in different CNG applications.
He said that Pakistan was working on policies to substitute liquid hydrocarbon fuels with natural gas in a bid a

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama proposed on Monday boosting funds for clean energy research and deployment in his 2012 budget by slashing subsidies for fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal. The budget provides the Department of Energy $29.5 billion for fiscal year 2012, up 4.2 percent from the proposed 2011 budget, and up 12 percent from the enacted 2010 budget.
Some $8.0 billion would support research in clean energy like wind, solar and advanced batteries. "Whomever leads

KARACHI - Pakistan would seek Japanese assistance in five broad areas including trade, development, security, energy and institution-building during the upcoming visit of President Asif Ali Zardari to Japan. The president is likely to visit Japan by the end of current month as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sought proposals from various government institutions, trade bodies and chambers of commerce for enhancing the existing trade volume between the two countries, sources say.