Coal production in China

Peoples Republic of China's coal output increased 5.80 percent from a year earlier to 839 million tonnes in the first quarter of this year 2012, the official People's Daily reported on Monday, revealed by Wang Xianzheng, head of the China Coal Industry Association.

National coal inventories stood at 224 million tonnes at 31st March,2012, the newspaper report said.

Coal stocks in major power plants were 76.7 million tonnes at the end of last month, enough for 19 days' power generation, the report further added.

Afghan opium trade

Some facts.
Afghanistan supplies about 90% of the world’s opium , from which deadly heroin is made.
The poppy economy in Afghanistan, which provides an income for insurgent Talibans , grew significantly in the year 2011 with soaring prices and expanded cultivation,  a UN report revealed.
In 2011, the farm-gate value of opium production more than doubled from the year previously to $1.4 billion and now accounts for 15% of the economy of Afghanistan, the UNODC said.
Kandahar is of one of Afghanistan’s top poppy producing provinces.
A lot of people were buying the opium and the cannabis as a kind of gold standard, as a kind of security fearing conflict in the wake of withdrawal of foreign troops in 2014.

Circular debt in Pakistan

As on March, 2012 circular debt stands on Rs. 400 billion.


Circular debt is accumulated because consumers of electricity are paying less for every unit but the supplier PEPCO has to pay higher price to the power generation companies. This gap is filled by subsidy given by the government of Pakistan which has very weak financial health. This gap creates cash flow problems for Pepco because it receives less cash than it has to pay to generation companies and its constantly increases which results in further circular debt. Therefore govt has to increase the price of electricity to pass on its burden because it can not itself sustain this huge cost due to lack of resources because it is incompetent and negligent to collect taxes to increase its financial health .
The reason behind this problem is that we are producing electricity from thermal sources not much from hydel. Thermal is very very costly than hydel. Therefore govt increases price that causes inflation. This problem was sown when Benazir started IPPs to get kickbacks and commissions when we did not need electricity. She did not start to build a dam for cheaper energy for future needs because PPP people could not get bribes from that. We started to buy that costly power which we did not need at that time and tried to export it to India. If she had started a big dam it would have also provided a lot of water for irrigation and our   rural people and country as a whole would have been a lot prosperous. Furthermore it would have saved people of Pakistan from devastating floods and happen again and again besides generating cheap electricity.

Sindh Engro Coal mining company

The financial close of $ 3 billion Sindh Engro Coal project can be delayed if the govt could not resolve worsening circular debt issue or timely complete laying of transmission line.

CEO of Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) and Engro Fertilizer Ltd (EFL), Mr. Khalid Mansoor told this while addressing a press conference here Friday.

The project is a joint venture between Sindh Provincial Govt and Engro Powergen Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Engro Corporation Ltd. with 40% and 60% stake respectively.

He said the government also needs to ensure uninterrupted gas supply to the newly commissioned fertilizer project ENVEN worth $ 1.10 billion to improve financial position of Engro Corporation, the holding company of EFL and SECMC.

He said that the financiers of the coal project would like to see that all these issues are resolved before they okey the financing for the coal project.

He said that circular debt has reached Rs 400 billion in March ,2012 and this might create doubts in the minds of the financiers about their forthcoming investment in Thar coal project.

He, however, made it clear that SECMC is technically, environmentally, financially and socially viable project being undertaken. The lignite quality of Thar coal is one of the best in the world with several other advantages as well, including a 33 meters cumulative lignite seam thickness and minimum sulphur percentage (1.10 %), he further added.

Responding to a question, he said that Central Development Working Party has already accorded approval to the transmission line project two weeks ago and now ECNEC is to give approval to the project.

He further added the entire project is to be financed by Chinese investors which are also the executors of SECMC. They are large companies, all in coal mining, construction, power generation, etc.

Mansoor said that the commissioning of this project will reduce Pakistan's energy bill by about $ 1 billion and benefit electricity consumers by about $ 400 million.

"The development of Block II alone would bring an investment of $ 12 billion. This includes mining, power generation and briquetting of coal.

To a question, he said that the only solution to the current energy crisis, is the use of coal in power units of WAPDA which are closed due to non-availability of furnace oil which is imported and very costly. "We have offered the government of Pakistan to let us convert the Jamshoro power plant to coal. We had been qualified for bidding for the project which will require an investment of $ 400 million", Mansoor added.

Pak Arab refinery

Pakistan’s biggest refinery  Pak Arab refinery produces 100,000 barrels-per-day.

Pak Arab accounts for about a third of the country’s overall refining capacity. 

Last week, oil marketing company Pakistan State Oil issued a tender for 650,000 tonnes of fuel oil for April-June delivery, and also bought 75,000 tonnes of jet fuel and 140,000 tonnes of gasoline for April-May.

Sources said PSO had no plans to seek more fuel oil during the refinery’s maintenance shutdown as the refinery is currently undergoing maintenance .

Demand for oil fuel products in across the country is expected to increase by 10 to 15% from June, as the summer heat wave increases the usage of air conditioners and drivers run their cars more often.

Pak Arab refinery is a 60-40 joint venture between the Pakistan government and  Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.