Tag Archives: down

Annual maintenance: Gas shortages may worsen as fields are shut down

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ISLAMABAD: 

The gas shortage is likely to worsen in the coming months, following a drop of over 600 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) in supply from a number of fields as a result of annual maintenance work. The exercise may result in the further curtailment of fuel supply to power plants, industrial units and compressed natural gas (CNG) filling stations.

Gas supply to the power, industrial and CNG sectors will be further restricted as and when required keeping in view the position of producing fields.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, which were earlier exempted from the gas load management programme being implemented by the distributors – Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company – can also face gas shortages after supply is stopped from fields that will be undergoing an annual turnaround in the ongoing and coming months, officials say.

The fields where maintenance work will get under way are being operated by exploration companies such as MOL, BHP Petroleum, POLO, Pakistan Petroleum Limited, PEL, Oil and Gas Development Company and OMV.

At present, total production of gas in the country stands at 4.2 mmcfd, of which 633 mmcfd will be taken off the system during field maintenance from June to August.

Officials reveal that the gap between supply and demand has started widening following start of maintenance in gas producing fields of Manzalai and Makori, operated by MOL and connected with SNGPL’s system. OMV’s Sawan and Tajjal fields and BHP’s Zamzama field are also scheduled to stop supply for annual turnaround this month.

According to the officials, in an effort to cope with the increasing shortfall, SNGPL has reduced gas supply to the independent power plants (IPPs) around Lahore from 133 mmcfd to 76 mmcfd with effect from June 15.

Industrial units and CNG stations are facing additional one-day gas outage apart from existing curtailment for four days a week.

Estimates show that natural gas contributes around 48% to the primary energy mix. However, the country is experiencing a severe scarcity of gas because of persistent imbalance between demand and supply on the back of depleting gas reserves and a consistent rise in demand.

The shortage in SNGPL’s system is more damaging than that in SSGC’s network due to the former’s over-stretched network, large number of consumers and new gas supply schemes on which work is underway.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19th, 2013.

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Brazen attack: Three policemen gunned down in Qila Abdullah

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QUETTA: 

Three policemen, including a head constable, were killed in an attack on a check post in the Muslimbagh area of Qila Abdullah district on Sunday.

According to Station House Officer Abdul Karim, unidentified armed men riding a motorcycle attacked the police check post, killing the three police personnel on the spot. The assailants managed to flee the scene.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 17th, 2013.


Post-budget: interest rates are likely to go down further

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KARACHI: 

If the banks have been feeling like the State Bank of Pakistan has been squeezing their profit margins, they are likely to feel the noose tightening just a bit further over the next few months: all signals emanating from the Big Man on McLeod Road suggest that interest rates are about to go down even further, a fact that is not likely to be good for the bank’s profit margins, but may end up being better for their cash flows.

In virtually every public document released by the State Bank, the central bank is making a strong and convincing case for interest rate cuts. The discount rate is currently 9.5% and the average inflation over the past 11 months has been just above 7.5%, meaning that real interest rates are positive by around 200 basis points. That leaves the SBP with plenty of room to cut interest rates and still leave them above inflation levels.

After relentlessly decreasing interest rates for the past two years, any such move is likely to leave the banks howling. According to one source in the banking industry, who declined to be identified, if interest rates go down to 8% or below, “there may be a few bank managers jumping out of the windows on Karachi’s McLeod Road.”

Yet that appears to be the direction in which rates are headed. The Nawaz administration is likely to welcome such a move, since it has the dual effect of lowering the government’s own borrowing costs (and therefore the budget deficit) as well as reducing the borrowing costs for manufacturing businesses, which form a core of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz’s political constituency.

The banks are also unhappy with the government’s proposal to finance the circular debt by issuing Rs500 billion worth of treasury bonds. Indeed, when the proposal was announced by the then-incoming Nawaz administration, the banks threatened to revolt, with some executives contacting the central bank saying they would not want to finance circular debt in this manner.

Yet that revolt seems a bit short-sighted. Circular debt is on the banks’ balance sheet anyway. And as things currently stand, energy companies are making very few cash payments on either the interest or the principal, and letting the debt mostly keep on accumulating. If that private energy company debt is replaced by government debt, it will certainly yield a lower interest rate, but it will also make regular interest and principal payments, improving the cash flows at banks and reducing their dependence on the State Bank’s open market operations.

Ultimately, however, the banks can pretend whatever they like but they really have no choice. Government debt now accounts for nearly 60% of the total outstanding stock of banking sector assets, making the government effectively a monopsony buyer of financing. The government gets to set its own rates. And there is little the banks can do about it.

The only way out for the banks is for them to take a leap of faith and start lending more to the private sector. That would force the government to look for other avenues of borrowing, and reduce the government’s market power in setting prices. Yet that appears to be a risk that the banking sector has hitherto been unwilling to take.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 17th, 2013.

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Sense and sensibility: Minister turns down house with a mosque

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LAHORE: 

Minister for Human Rights and Minorities Khalil Tahir Sindhu’s name came up for a draw for the allotment of residences for provincial ministers in the GOR-I, 3-Club Road.

The house which had previously served as an office of the chief minister’s secretariat includes a mosque.

But Sindhu said considering a lot of minority people would be visiting him it might be more appropriate for him to get another residence instead so that there was no question of perceived disrespect for the mosque.

The request to switch houses was granted and the human rights and minorities minister was given a house on I-A Upper Mall instead.

Of the 25 provincial ministers, advisor and special assistants, 10 have been allotted houses in the GOR-I with the approval of the chief minister.

The houses were allotted through a ballot supervised by Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal. Two houses have been allotted to the speaker and deputy speaker. The ministers not getting official residences would be paid house rent and utility bills. The special assistant and advisor would get Rs20,000 per month as rent and provincial ministers Rs50,000 per month. The S&GAD’s welfare wing would provide furnishings for all ministers’ houses. Up to Rs100,000 would be spent on each house, an official said.

Cabinet members who have been given official residences are Rana Sanaullah Khan, Raja Ashfaq Sarwar, Rana Mashood Ahmad Khan, Malik Muhammad Iqbal Channar, Tanveer Aslam Malik, Sher Ali Khan, Khalil Tahir Sindhu, Abdul Waheed Choudhary, Muhammad Asif Malik and Chaudhry Muhammad Shafique.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16th, 2013.


Honour killing: Couple declared karo kari gunned down

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SUKKUR: Four armed men gunned down a couple on Thursday morning after the two were declared karo and kari in Trighati village of Sukkur, within the jurisdiction of Salehpat police station.

Mohammad Ali Katpar and his wife, Gul Taj, were sleeping in their house, when unidentified armed assailants broke into the house and killed the two. The assailants then escaped from the scene.

It has been reported that Muhamamd Ali, son of Muhammad Ishaq Katpar, and Gul Taj, daughter of Abdul Ghani Brohi, residents of Sheroja Pathan village, after developing an understanding registered their marriage in Sukkur court.

This free-will marriage sparked enmity between two clans in the Brohi tribe, who reportedly called for the couple’s killings and declared them karo and kari. The couple went into a hiding but had recently surfaced again.

The police shifted the bodies to a Rohri hospital for autopsy and then handed them over to their relatives.

The police have arrested two suspects but have declined to declare their arrest.

Police constable Veenjhar Khan confirmed the incident and said that nobody showed up to lodge an FIR. A case has yet to be registered.


Law and order: CM comes down hard on Pirabad police officers

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KARACHI: An irked Sindh chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has ordered action against irresponsible police officers in Pirabad, an area plagued by extortion and street crime.

During a late-night visit to the neighbourhood, Shah failed to find even a single policeman patrolling the area. A majority of the cops were missing from their pickets as well.

On reaching the Pirabad police station, he realised that the policemen, including investigation officers and wireless operators, were nowhere to be seen. The station house officer in plain clothes was found engaged in idle chat with some friends, which forced the provincial chief to order strict action against him and other officers.

Shah also inspected the lock-ups, inquired about the people in custody, checked the roznamcha [daily entry book] and reviewed the cases registered at the station.

Later, speaking to the media, Shah said that he was not satisfied with the performance of the police. “The SHO was missing from the station from Wednesday morning and arrived suddenly after getting information about my visit. His staff is following suit by shirking from their duties.” Given several complaints, Shah had ordered security to be beefed up in the area but negligent officers flouted his orders, he added.

Irrespective of their political affiliations, these officers will be penalsied, he stressed. “I have given a free hand to the IGP who can now transfer SP to SHO level officers. No one will interfere in his job.”

The provincial chief also visited the Boat Basin food street, where he discussed the law and order situation with the shopkeepers. He was accompanied by Sindh information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon and Sindh PPP secretary information Waqar Mehdi. “I have come out on the roads to build the confidence of citizens and inquire about their problems,” Shah said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 14th, 2013.