Cement exports drop slightly
Total year-on-year cement dispatches
in August fell from 2.283 million tonnes to 2.251m tonnes, All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers
Association said in a statement.
Exports from the
north declined from
0.512m tonnes to 0.438m
tonnes during the
month compared with
last year. However,
domestic cement market in the region registered a little increase,
dispatching 1.312m tonnes
against 1.287m tonnes
during the same
month last year. Local
cement dispatches from
the south dropped
by 11.65 per
cent while exports increased by
15.48 per cent. The exports from South in August last year were 0.188m tonnes
that increased to 0.239m tonnes this
year. Local sales
declined from 0.296m
tonnes to 0.239m tonnes.
The statement said the
manufacturers came under
pressure because of
recent hike in
power tariff and fuel
prices which, in
turn, raised the
input and transportation costs.
SBP’s reserves fall to five-year
low at $4.8 billion
Foreign exchange reserves of
the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) went
below $5 billion – their lowest level in
five years - for the week ended August 30, the
SBP’s data said on Thursday. Reserves held by the State
Bank declined to $4.822 billion from $5.203 billion, while country’s
total liquid foreign reserves fell to $9.998 billion from $10.390 billion during the previous week. Economists said
the major reason
for the decline
is the country’s
need to fulfill its
external debt servicing
obligations. Pakistan paid
the 19th installment
of $393 million
to the International
Monetary (IMF) as
part of loan repayment on August 26th. The central
bank’s forex holdings are now one
of the
lowest since 2008.
This was the
year (November, 2008)
when Pakistan signed $7.6 billion
worth of stand-by arrangement loan program agreement with the IMF to overcome
its severe balance of payments difficulties. The Fund said at that time that
the loan was given with a view to strengthen Pakistan’s sharply diminishing
foreign exchange reserves.
Tullow Oil winding up Pakistan
operations
Ireland based oil/gas Exploration and
Production (E&P) company Tullow Oil Plc
is to wind up its Pakistan operations. In March 2012 the company took the decision
to commence a
process to sell
its Asian assets to
focus on its core African and Atlantic margin
strategy. British Petroleum (BP) and Malaysian-based firm Petronas have already
wrapped up their operations in Pakistan.
Tullow Oil is
the third foreign
firm seeking to
liquidate its assets
and leave the country. Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) had shown
interest in acquiring the assets of
Tullow in Pakistan and Bangladesh
but later it
gave up on its
plan as Tullow
sold its Bangladesh
assets to a
Singapore-based company,
Kris Energy. A PPL
official said the
state-owned company is no more interested
in Tullow Oil's
remaining assets. In
December 2012, after receiving formal approval from the
federal government, PPL appointed consultants to evaluate Tullow Oil's assets
in Pakistan and Bangladesh to determine hydrocarbon potential and the possible
advantage of each block. Tullow has been active in Pakistan since 1991 and has
exploration, development and production interests across seven licenses covering 13,171 sq kms. Early in 2010, Tullow
successfully completed the Shekhan-1 exploration well encountering
45 meters of net gas pay.
Plan prepared to import LNG under
$490 million projects
The government has prepared a plan to
import LNG under $490 million short, medium and long-term projects. LNG import projects
are expected to be implemented within the next two to three years with the
objective of enabling the country to import 1.7mmcfd LNG to alleviate the gas
crisis in the country. The government intends to import 200mmcfd gas through a fast
track Engro terminal Project in the next six to eight months at a cost of $30
million to $40 million. The Engro Vopak Terminal Limited (EVTL) would provide
the project cost. The project activities include retrofitting of existing Engro
LPG terminal, provision of Floating Storage and Re-gasification Unit (FSRU),
dredging and laying of 8 kilometres pipeline from terminal to SSGC receiving
point. The EVTL will be the terminal operator under a tolling arrangement. A fixed
per mmbtu tolling fee and annual
throughput guarantee will
be negotiated. The
timeline for completion
of the project
is six to
eight months from award of
contract. The supply will be
intermittent and twice a month for 5-6 days each
of 200 mmcfd LNG each day.
The ship movement and night navigation issues would be resolved with
Port Qasim Authority. The plan also envisages import of 500mmcfd LNG through
SSGC LPG Retrofit Project within the next 18 to 22 months. The financing cost
of the project $175 million to $200 million would be provided by the successful
bidder.
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