Wednesday, May 07 2025

Oil prices climb 4%
Oil prices climbed about 4% on Tuesday on signs of higher demand in Europe and China, rising tensions in the Middle East and as buyers emerged the day after prices collapsed to a four-year low on a decision by OPEC+ to boost output. Brent futures rose $2.37, or 3.9%, to $62.60 a barrel at 11:12 am (1512 GMT). US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained $2.42, or 4.2%, to $59.55. OPEC+ decided over the weekend to speed up oil production hikes for a second consecutive month. "After evaluating the latest OPEC+ move to accelerate the easing of supply cuts, market players are focusing on developments in trade and the possibility ... that trade deals will be reached," said Tamas Varga, an analyst at PVM, a brokerage and consulting firm that is part of TP ICAP.
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Gas outages in times of abundance questioned
A Senate panel on Tuesday expressed concern over gas loadshedding in many areas despite excess supplies. The meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum, presided over Senator Umar Farooq, was also told that Sindh was now the largest producer and consumer province in the country — producing about 1,609 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of gas and consuming about 1,115mmcfd. During the meeting, Senator Kamil Ali Agha raised the issue of unannounced gas loadshedding in Lahore. He reported that consumers had been forced to use LPG cylinders due to gas load shedding, which had become a “persistent hardship for citizens”.
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Monday, May 05 2025

Looking forward to lower oil prices
For more than five years now, Saudi Arabia — the world’s largest oil exporter and the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Plus (Opec+) kingpin — has been striving to balance the global oil demand and supply by controlling output. Riyadh has been at the forefront of this effort and has been shouldering the major weight of the Opec+ output cut mechanism. In recent months, Opec+ cut its crude oil output by over five million barrels, some five per cent of the global supply. Saudi Arabia was contributing two-fifths of this output cut. The effort, aimed at propping up the global oil market prices, was essential to meet the ever-growing budgetary requirements of major oil producers, Saudi Arabia included. Most Opec economies are often termed as single-product economies, with oil earnings staying crucial to meeting the needs of these petro-states.
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Friday, May 02 2025

Govt slashes petrol, diesel prices by Rs2
The government reduced petrol and diesel prices on Wednesday by Rs2 per litre each for the current fortnight ending May 15. In a late-night announcement, the Ministry of Finance said Ogra had reviewed and adjusted prices for petroleum products in view of the fluctuations in the international market. The ex-depot price of high-speed diesel (HSD) was decreased by Rs2 per litre (2 per cent) to Rs256.64 from Rs258.64 over the past fortnight. Most of the transport sector runs on HSD. Its price is considered inflationary as it is mostly used in heavy transport vehicles, trains and agricultural engines like trucks, buses, tractors, tube-wells and threshers and particularly adds to the prices of vegetables and other eatables.
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Monday, April 28 2025

Centre irked by Punjab delaying lower tariff for LNG plants
The federal government has conveyed its displeasure to the Punjab government over delay in approval process for tariff reduction of its two LNG-based power plants of more than 2,400MW, involving about Rs600bn savings over their remaining useful lives of 18 to 23 years. A senior official told Dawn that Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) — a subsidiary of the power division — had been in contact with Punjab’s energy department for completion of formalities to file tariff reduction applications before the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra). He said the CPPA management to the government that the case for approval of revised tariffs with Punjab’s two plants was included in the agenda of the provincial cabinet well before Eidul Fitr. “The CPPA has reported that approval from the Punjab cabinet has not come through as of April 25, despite reminders,” the official said.
Related news categories: business economic-indicators oilgas-marketing