Tag: Pakistan

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.

Hutchison Ports Pakistan, the country’s first deepwater container terminal, is expected to complete the second phase of its $600 million project by the next yearend to more than double the handling capacity. Phase II is planned to be completed by the end of 2020. 

Pakistan's demand for LNG could increase more than three times in the next three to five years, the chief executive of Pakistan LNG informed. Namely, Pakistan's two LNG terminals are being fully used, while two more will enter a final investment decision this year. The two import terminals of Pakistan feature a regas capacity of 1.2 billion to 1.3 billion cubic feet of gas per day.