Tag: Pakistan

According to local media, an unknown poisonous gas leaked from a container at port Karachi in Pakistan, killing at least five people, while about 70 others fainted. Pakistan's Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi commented the cause of the gas leak is not known yet, adding that a high-level team has been formed to investigate the matter.

Gwadar port in Pakistan has started handling cargo bound for Afghanistan. This is considered as a positive development for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, however experts believe that the economic sustainability of the port is far from certain.

The Standard Club Association, recently announced that the Port of Karachi in Pakistan joined the increased list of ports which have forced a ban against open-loop scrubbers. Specifically, Port of Karachi will from now on prohibit the discharge of wash-water coming from open-loop scrubbers. 

The ship breaking activity in developing countries, such as India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, has been subject to criticism because of the negative impacts the industry has on the environment and workers. Now, a report by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai found that there has been little improvements in the shipbreaking yards with regards to working conditions. It also presents several breaches of the national legal framework.

The Pakistani Minister for Maritime Affairs, Syed Ali Haider Zaidi, announced that the shipping companies that will register their vessels in Pakistan by 2030, will be excluded from the taxes, as this policy aims to boost the Pakistani shipping sector. 

Oil majors such as Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil were among the groups selected to build five LNG terminals in Pakistan, as the country aims to triple imports and ease gas shortages, said Omar Ayub Khan, Pakistan’s minister of power and petroleum. 

International Container Terminal Services Inc. informed that it initiated a rail cargo service between Karachi and Lahore in Pakistan, aiming to enable faster movements of products in its Middle Eastern port. The new rail service is also expected to cut significantly costs to upcountry markets.

According to the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), the Government is ready to proceed to the anticipated multi-billion dollar coastal oil refinery by the end of 2019, aiming that a capacity of production of 250,000 barrels per day would be completed within the scheduled time-frame. 

Iran is set to propose to Pakistan to connect Pakistan's Gwadar port to Iran's Chabahar port. Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, commented that Iran attaches great importance to ties with Pakistan and cooperation between the two ports. Also, the development of the Chabahar port is amongst Iran's top priorities, noting that the first Indian cargo was sent to Afghanistan through the Chabahar port.

The Kekra-1 exploration well is scheduled to be plugged and abandoned as the consortium didn't unearth hydrocarbons in the area. Rystad Energy commented that in a major setback for Pakistan’s oil ambitions, as the much-awaited Kekra-01 well in the Arabian Sea turned out to be a duster.