In a communication shared with Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) and London Stock Exchange, the company said that OGDCL, being operator of Jandran West Exploration License with 100 per cent interest, had made a gas discovery over Mughalkot Formation from its exploratory efforts at Jandran West X-1 well which is located in Kohlu District, Balochsitan, Province, Pakistsan.
Jandran West X-1 well was spudded-in on May 19 2021 as an exploratory well and drilled down to a total depth of 1627m into Parh Formation. Based on the good gas shown during drilling, interpretation of open hole logs data, Drill Stem Test (DST) has been performed in Mughalkot Formation.
The well flowed at the rate of 2.391 Million Standard Cubic Feet per Day (MMSCFD) gas with traces of condensate at WellHead Flowing Pressure (WHFP) of 455 Pounds per Square Inch (PSI) at 32/64” choke size.
OGDCL being the leading exploration and Production Company in Pakistan has adopted aggressive exploration strategy which has resulted into Hydrocarbons discovery over Jandran West X-1. This discovery will add to the hydrocarbon reserve base of OGDCL and the of the country.
This is a continuation of an earlier arrangement between ITMinds and PPL through which ITMinds had been successfully providing these BPO services to PPL, a statement said on Monday.
Through this arrangement, ITMinds will facilitate PPL for the accounting and administration of PPL’s Retirement Funds, including Pension, Provident and Gratuity funds, allowing PPL to focus on its investment decisions by leveraging ITMinds’ state of the art back office system and IT infrastructure while reaping the benefits of economies of scale.
Commenting on the occasion, Syed Rahat Hussain Naqvi, Senior Manager Finance-PPL, emphasized the importance of automation of back-office services for retirement funds for both process improvement as well as cost optimisation. He further appreciated how this arrangement with ITMinds in the last three years has helped to provide uninterrupted services, especially during the pandemic induced circumstances.
Also commenting on the occasion, Iqleem-uz-Zaman Khan, CEO – ITMinds, said that considering this is an era of specialization, ITMinds’ BPO services of fund accounting and administration enable companies to outsource their back office functions to a competent and reliable BPO partner while achieving efficiency, scalability and transparency of processes.
The event was also attended by, Shariq Jafrani CFO-CDC, Waqas Ashraf CFO- ITMinds, Muneer Hussain Manager Shared Services-PPL, M. Tarique Sheikh Senior Accountant-PPL and Salman Iqbal, Manager- ITMinds.
ISLAMABAD: The government on Saturday increased the price of petrol to a record high at Rs137.79 per liter. The government announced to increase prices of all petroleum products with effect from October 15, 2021.
The price of petrol has been increased by Rs10.49 to Rs137.79 from Rs127.30 per liter. The price of High Speed Diesel (HSD) has been increased by Rs12.44 to Rs134.48 from Rs122.04 per liter. The price of kerosene oil has been enhanced by Rs10.95 to Rs110.26 from Rs99.31 per liter. Similarly, the price of light diesel oil has been increased by Rs8.48 to Rs108.35 from Rs99.51 per liter.
A notification issued by the Finance Division said at present, oil prices have risen around $85 a barrel, which is the highest since October 2018.
Importantly, entire energy chain prices have witnessed a strong surge in the past couple of months due to higher demand for energy inputs and supply bottlenecks.
In the current scenario, the government has absorbed the pressure and provided maximum relief to the consumers by keeping petroleum levy and sales tax to a minimum level. Therefore, prices worked out by OGRA have been approved, according to the statement.
KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has relaxed financing conditions to promote investment in renewable energy solutions by companies.
The SBP in a statement on Monday said that it had softened the conditions for renewable energy solution providers under its Refinance Scheme for Renewable Energy.
Now, all Renewable Energy Investment Entities (RE-IEs) interested in installing renewable energy projects/solutions are allowed to avail refinance under category III of the scheme.
An RE-IE is a business entity (including vendors and suppliers) whose business is to establish renewable energy projects for onward leasing/renting out/selling on deferred payment basis or selling of electricity generated from these projects to end users.
It may be recalled that with an aim to help address the challenges of energy shortages and climate change, SBP revised its SBP Financing Scheme for Renewable Energy in July 2019.
SBP also launched a Shariah complaint version of the scheme in August 2019. The scheme now comprises of three categories. Under Category I, financing is allowed for setting up of renewable energy power projects with capacity ranging from 1 MW to 50 MW for own use or selling of electricity to the national grid or a combination of both.
Under Category II, financing is allowedto domestic, agriculture, commercial and industrial borrowers for installation of renewable energy based projects/solutions of up-to 1 MW to generate electricity for own use or selling to the grid/distribution company under net metering.
Under Category III, financing isallowed to vendors/suppliers/energy sale companies for installation of wind and solar systems/solutions of up to 5 MW. Since the inception of the scheme,717 projects having potential of adding 1,082 MW of energy supply through renewable sources have been financed. As of June 30, 2021, total outstanding financing under the Scheme is Rs53billion. While there is substantial take up under Category I & II, solution suppliers under Category III faced problems.
Accordingly, in light of the feedback received from stakeholders including renewable energy solution suppliers, Alternate Energy Development Board, NEPRA and banks, the requirement of AEDB certification has been relaxed for RE-IEs who do not undertake installations on their own but hire services of installers/vendors for installation of RE projects/solutions.
However, vendors/ suppliers/engineering procurement & construction (EPC) contractors of these RE-IE will still be required to be certified under AEDB certification regulations. It is expected that this revision in category III will further facilitate in production of clean energy.
In a move aimed at providing relief to consumers, the federal government has announced a reduction in the sales tax rates on the supply of petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD).
He said that the government was absorbing the impact of the decade’s highest price-hike at international level to provide relief to people through various measures including direct food subsidy to the poor.
Addressing a news conference, along with Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Farrukh Habib, the federal minister said that Covid-19 pandemic had triggered price hike all across the globe, adding that since Pakistan was importer of some essential commodities, hence it was impacted too.
He said that the government had not passed on all this impact to people.
Talking about the hike in petrol price, the minister said that Pakistan was at 17th number among the countries providing the commodity at the lowest prices, adding that the majority of the other 16 countries having lowest prices than Pakistan were oil-producing countries.
He said that petrol prices in the country were even lower than regional countries, as it was being sold at Rs127 per liter in Pakistan whereas its price in India was Rs235 per liter and Rs195 per liter in Bangladesh.
He said that the government wanted to reduce prices as it had already slashed the petroleum development levy from Rs30 in 2018 to just Rs2.5 per liter.
He said, that the government had budgeted Rs600 billion from petroleum levy, which could be affected as the prime minister wanted to provide relief to people.
Tarin said that it was very unfortunate that no proper attention was given towards agricultural sector for last three decades and resultantly, the country had become net importer of wheat, sugar, pulses and ghee and was directly affected by world inflation.
He said despite all this, the government had taken measures to provide relief to people, particularly poor. The government had to buy sugar at higher rates, but it would be available around Rs90 per kilogram likewise, ghee prices that witnessed around 80-90 percent hike in international market and was available at Rs350 in Pakistan, would come down to below Rs 300 per KG.
He said that the government would also provide direct food subsidies to 12.5 million families which constitute around 44 percent of total population. The subsidy would be provided on flour, sugar, ghee and pulses.
The finance minister said the government was also evolving a mechanism to minimize the role of middlemen, which he said was one of the major causes of inflation adding that the provinces have also been asked to reestablish provincial price administrators to control prices.
He said that the economy of the country was growing as the revenues have witnessed over 38 percent increase and exceeded the target by Rs186 billion.
This means economy was growing, he said and expected that it would grow by 5 percent during the current fiscal year and resultantly it would have trickle down effect.
He said that the major sectors of the economy including agriculture, industry and services sector were witnessing growth.
He said that Kamyab Pakistan Programme would also be launched soon under which farmers would be provided interest-free loans of Rs150,000 per crop, Rs200,000 interest-free loans on mechanization whereas urban households would be provided Rs500,000 per family to start businesses.
In addition, the government was also providing loans up to Rs2 million at 2 percent interest loans for construction of houses whereas health-cards were being provided to facilitate people.
He said that the prime minister was very concerned about the welfare of common people.
About debts, the minister said that the debt-to-GDP ratio came down by 4 percent last year, expecting that it would come down further during the current year.
To a question, the minister said that the government would sincerely negotiate with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He said that we had promised to collect revenues of RS5.8 trillion and the collection numbers till date show that the target would be exceeded.
He said there were certain challenges faced in the power sector, but added that enhancing tariff rates, as advised by the IMF, was not a solution to the issue, so we would like IMF to provide space in this matter.
KARACHI: Pakistan oil sales have increased by 26 percent Year on Year (YoY) to 1.93 million tons in September 2021 as compared with 1.52 tons in the same month of the last year, a report suggested on Friday.
The same is likely to remain largely similar on a Month on Month (MoM) basis due to rising pump prices, lower transportation activity, and lower furnace oil demand, according to analysts at Topline Securities.
In the first quarter of the current fiscal year, Pakistan oil sales are likely to clock in at 5.8 million tons, which will be the highest quarterly sales since the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2017/2018.
Growth in oil sales in September 2021 has mainly been driven by higher petrol and High Speed Diesel (HSD) sales that were up by 23 percent YoY and 46 percent YoY, respectively. This has been on account of increased economic activity and rising car and bike sales. Furnace Oil sales also increased by 8 percent YoY to 0.4 million tons.
Company wise data shows that Pakistan State Oil (PSO), Shell Pakistan (SHEL) and Attock Petroleum (APL) remained major gainers whereas Hascol Petroleum (HASCOL) lost market share.
PSO sales improved by 39 percent YoY to 1.0 million tons as the company continued to witness higher sales in all fuel segments with its market share increasing to 50 percent in September 2021 as against 46 percent in September 2020.
SHEL also reported a 32 percent YoY increase in sales, while APL sales were also up by 22 percent YoY to 0.2 million tons. On the other hand, HASCOL’s sales declined by 57 percent YoY.
The analysts expect Pakistan oil sales to remain strong and anticipate sales growth of around 15-20 percent in fiscal year 2021/2022.
The government on Thursday announced a significant hike in the price of petrol, increasing it by Rs 4 per liter, bringing the cost to an all-time high of Rs 127.30 per liter. This marks the highest petrol price in Pakistan’s history. The new prices, along with adjustments to other petroleum products, will take effect from October 1, 2021.
In a significant development for Pakistan’s energy sector, the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) has announced a major gas discovery in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK).
ISLAMABAD: The federal government has announced a reduction of sales tax rate by 31.5 per cent on supply of High Speed Diesel (HSD). The rate sales tax on HSD has been reduced in order to lower the impact of higher prices pass on to the consumer.
In the latest SRO only sales tax rate on HSD has been reduced. The sales tax rates on other petroleum products have been kept unchanged. The sales tax rates on petroleum products are: Petrol 10.54 per cent; HSD 11.64 per cent; Kerosene oil 6.70 per cent; Light Diesel Oil 0.20 per cent.
With the announcement the petrol prices have gone up to the all-time high level. However, it is even more important that the sales tax rates are on the lowest side when compared with the rates applicable during year 2015.
The government has increased latest prices owing to fluctuations in petroleum prices in the international market and exchange rate variation.
Following are the rates of petroleum products, which will take effect from September 16, 2021:
The rate of petrol has been increased by Rs5 to Rs123.30 per liter from Rs118.30.
The rate of high-speed diesel has been increased by Rs5.01 to Rs120.04 per liter from Rs115.03.
The rate of kerosene oil has been increased by Rs5.46 to Rs92.26 per liter from Rs86.80.
The rate of light diesel oil has been increased by Rs5.92 to Rs90.69 from Rs84.77.
In the latest SRO 1225(I)/2021 dated September 18, 2021, the sales tax rates on petroleum products are: Petrol 10.54 per cent; HSD 11.64 per cent; Kerosene oil 6.70 per cent; Light Diesel Oil 0.20 per cent.
The present sales tax rates on petroleum products are much lower when compared with sales tax rates prevailed about six years ago. The FBR issued SRO 963(I)/2015 dated September 30, 2015. The sales tax rates under this SRO are: Petrol 26 per cent; Kerosene 30 per cent; High Speed Diesel 50 per cent; Light Diesel Oil 29.50 per cent.
