Pakistan's Energy & Water - News and Updates

[Jango]

Sirjee, bilkul theek kaha but where are we going to find efficient, sincere and honest leadership? Aasaman sey to tapak nahi parein gey aisey leader. That is much harder than finding he money we don't have, just look at our recent elections.

Well, I'm always looking at the glass half full, unless we aren't cursed by God Himself, we will be better off someday!

PML is a improvement from PPP atleast, things will get a teeny weeny bit better if not much, maybe PTI could do something in KPK (although if you listen to Hassan Nisar, they will be choked by PML)...ab itnay saal itna kuch seh liya hai, kuch aur bhi shayed seh lain gay!

 

[Argus Panoptes]

Well, I'm always looking at the glass half full, unless we aren't cursed by God Himself, we will be better off someday!

PML is a improvement from PPP atleast, things will get a teeny weeny bit better if not much, maybe PTI could do something in KPK (although if you listen to Hassan Nisar, they will be choked by PML)...ab itnay saal itna kuch seh liya hai, kuch aur bhi shayed seh lain gay!

These days I am not so sure anymore that we are not cursed. And we have no choice but to endure for more years to come what we have endured for so many years already.

 

[muse]

Sirjee, bilkul theek kaha but where are we going to find efficient, sincere and honest leadership? Aasaman sey to tapak nahi parein gey aisey leader. That is much harder than finding he money we don't have, just look at our recent elections.

Perhaps it's time to move past the magic bullet of " efficient, sincere and honest leadership" -- lets settle for rules that allow us to stop and replace "managers" who do not display these qualities.

 

[ejaz007]

No Sir, gas, oil and coal is available aplenty. What is not available is the money to pay for their use. That is an important difference.

There was a gas shortage issue due to shut down of Qadirpur field (400 mmscfd production). The restoration of production from field shall also help in improving situation.

 

[ejaz007]

Violent protest in AJK against power outages

MUZAFFARABAD: Police fired warning shots and used tear gas canisters as furious protesters railed against prolonged power outages in Mirpur and Kotli on Monday.

TV footage showed demonstrators clashing with the law enforces as they refused to disperse. The protesters said they would rally outside the Mangla Power House.

Senior police officials tried to pacify the protesters and assured them through a notification that only scheduled loadshedding of four hours would be carried out in their areas but to no avail.

The demonstrators rejected the notification as they were of the view that it was only aimed at dispersing the protesters. They said that such notifications issued in the past were not implemented.

Violent protest in AJK against power outages - thenews.com.pk

 

[ejaz007]

‘Imported’ power minister left for Bahrain, leaving Pakistan in dark
By Shabbir Sarwar


LAHORE: Forcing the entire nation to bear up to 20 hours of load shedding owing to the mismanagement of the ministry, Caretaker Federal Minister for Water and Power Dr Musadik Malik left for Bahrain on a private visit.

Sources said the minister is visiting Bahrain for his personal consultancy work and will be back after three days.

Its strange that the nation is bearing the brunt of 18-20 hours of load shedding and unavailability of water during the extreme weather conditions when the chief responsible for managing the power crisis, the minister for water and power, has flown away from the country.

Taking advantage of the situation, his official spokesman and PRO of the ministry Tanveer Aalam has gone to Murree to ‘chill’ and avoid load shedding.

Despite serving as a strategist and giving expert opinion and best of the best strategies to various countries, he totally remained unable to give and implement any strategy to best manage the available energy resources of Pakistan and minimise load shedding.

Instead, his inability and lack of interest worked to increase the problem, a high-ranking official said on the condition of anonymity.

In a press conference held last Sunday in Lahore, Dr Musadik Malik and Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Sohail Wajahat Siddiqui expressed their inability to overcome the energy crisis and get the people rid of massive load shedding while terming financial constraints as a major hurdle and incompetence as a minor.

Sources said Dr Musadik has no stakes in Pakistan as he is basically a strategy consultant and spends most of his time in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, US and other countries.

According to official profile available on the website of the Ministry of Water and Power, Dr Musadik Malik led projects like an alternative dispute resolution strategy for the Kingdom of Bahrain, corporate strategy for Bahrain Bourse (stock exchange), and industrial strategy for the Kingdom of Bahrain. He has provided advise to global leaders, including the crown prince of Bahrain; minister of industries and commerce – Bahrain; minister of transportation and cabinet affairs – Bahrain; COO of the EDB – Bahrain; Ministers of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (labour, commerce and industry, education,); cabinet members in Oman (ministers of national economy, energy/oil and gas, industry, healthcare, social development, agriculture, and education); and the secretary general of the research council – Oman.

According to the profile, “Dr Malik is an adjunct professor of strategy at King Saud University (Saudi Arabia) and visiting professor at the National School of Public Policy (Pakistan). Until recently, he was the managing director of a leading public-sector strategy consulting firm. He has served as an adviser to the government bodies in North America, Middle East and South Asia. He has also advised private sector organisations ranging from the Fortune 500 companies in the US to the largest publicly traded corporations in the GCC through various stages of transformation.”

It states, “Malik has led projects for the Sultanate of Oman; energy/oil and gas innovation strategy for the Sultanate of Oman; six sector-specific innovation strategies for the Sultanate of Oman, including industries, ICT, health, education and agriculture; the national labour reform strategy for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; industrial manufacturing development strategy for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; higher education strategy for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; knowledge-based industrial clusters strategy for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; national judicial reform strategy for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; science and technology based economic transformation strategy for the government of Puerto Rico; and the governor of Puerto Rico.”

Dr Malik has previously served as the vice president and regional director for the Middle East for Charles River Associates (CRA International) and in senior positions at Arthur D Little (USA) and SRI International (US).

Dr Malik obtained a PhD in healthcare administration and policy from the University of Illinois.

The review of Dr Malik’s profile that he had himself given to the ministry website administrator reflects that the only service he did for Pakistan and Pakistanis was that he was a visiting professor at the National School of Public Policy.

It is true that the caretaker minister is not responsible for producing electricity, but what about the best and efficient management of the available resources? He could not manage the available resources efficiently and proved a burden on the nation.

He enjoyed a minister’s protocol and every thing on public expense but he could not come up to the expectations of the nation.

The minister was not available for comments, while his spokesman Tanveer Aalam had switched off his phone. After repeated attempts, his phone was on and was picked by some female, who responded by saying that Mr Tanveer was driving a car to Murree and could not talk.

Once again, the model of desi-imported minister has failed in Pakistan.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[ejaz007]

Power crisis will take time to overcome: Nawaz

LAHORE: Expressing resolve to overcome power crisis in Pakistan, prime minister in-waiting Nawaz Sharif has warned against harboring any delusion that the new government would end loadshedding as soon as it takes charge.

Addressing a ceremony in connection with the Youm-e-Takbir, that marks the country’s nuclear explosions, Mr Sharif, however, said that he would work day in and day out to overcome the power crisis, badly affecting the country’s economy and adding to the miseries of people.

“Don’t expect new government will come and resolve issue of loadshedding, we will cure the problem as well as pray to almighty to fix it,” Nawaz Sharif added.

The PML-N chief said that power plants might take three years time to operate. However, he said that he would not disappoint the people whether who voted him or not.

He said that his government would carry out “economic explosion within the next five years.

Power crisis will take time to overcome: Nawaz - thenews.com.pk

 

[Jango]

Sorry Mr Sharif, but your little brother gave different timelines, ranging from 6 months to 2 years. And he even went as far as to say 'mera naam badl dena'...so after 2 years agr loadhsedding khatm nhn ki to Shahbaz Sharif ka naam Shahbaz nhn, Showbaz Sharif hai...a man has got to be true to his words afterall!

 

[Dubious]

@ejaz007 I am guessing MR.IMPORTED left because no one appreciated his ideas ...

 

[Jango]

‘Imported’ power minister left for Bahrain, leaving Pakistan in dark
By Shabbir Sarwar


LAHORE: Forcing the entire nation to bear up to 20 hours of load shedding owing to the mismanagement of the ministry, Caretaker Federal Minister for Water and Power Dr Musadik Malik left for Bahrain on a private visit.

He became immensely fed up of the ministry work, according to him everyone is corrupt and inefficient to the core, and with these people in place you cannot solve this crisis in a hundred years.

So from his statements, it seems that the power crisis is as much a result of inefficiency and corruption as it is of technical reasons.

Just yesterday, on Capital Talk, some guy was commenting about DISCOs and GENCOs and inefficiency, then the fact that PSO gives oil with 8% water content to power companies!!!

So only getting the corrupt out of the place will go a long way in solving the crisis along with handling the technical problems.

 

[ejaz007]

Just yesterday, on Capital Talk, some guy was commenting about DISCOs and GENCOs and inefficiency, then the fact that PSO gives oil with 8% water content to power companies!!!

If PSO is giving oil with 8% water content then how is the equipment still working. I am not sure if this is the case. Shall be surprised if this is correct.

 

[ejaz007]

@ejaz007 I am guessing MR.IMPORTED left because no one appreciated his ideas ...

@Talon It is not his job to implement new ideas since he is part of caretaker government. Major policy shift or implementing new policy is not his job. He was supposed to run the ministry according to best of his abilities.

 

[Jango]

If PSO is giving oil with 8% water content then how is the equipment still working. I am not sure if this is the case. Shall be surprised if this is correct.

Look up the last 20 minutes of yesterday's Capital Talk, it is also available online.

He said that the normally accepted content is 0.5, but due to sub-standard practices and all the water rises to 8%...due to this the machinery is severely affected and the maintenance cycle is affected.

 

[niaz]

Look up the last 20 minutes of yesterday's Capital Talk, it is also available online.

He said that the normally accepted content is 0.5, but due to sub-standard practices and all the water rises to 8%...due to this the machinery is severely affected and the maintenance cycle is affected.

There is always some moisture trapped in oil and that is why limit in most cases is 0.5% by volume. Oil & water are not miscible; it takes a few chemical additives to form an oil /water emulsion.

When the tanks are nearly empty, water is pumped in to raise the normally un-pumpable stock up so that it can be pumped out. This water will form a layer at the bottom of the tank lorry transporting the fuel. If the sampling is done incorrectly; more of the bottom layer containing water comes into the sample; only then water will show up to such an extent. Water can get into furnace oil during winter if the steam coils for heating the oil leak. However, most of the excess water can be drained out thru the valves specially built in for this purpose in the above ground storage tanks.

Buyers don’t like access water because you are paying about $650/- per metric ton for water which does not burn and use all kinds of tricks to ask for reduction in the invoice compensating for the water above 0.5%.

8% water is a huge exaggeration and definitely a ruse to get price relief from the Seller. In my time as Sales Engineer for Esso; I was often called to petrol stations complaining of excess water in diesel and petrol. However when sampling was done in my presence, it turned out that petrol station owner was only taking the sample from the bottom most layer of the tank.

Originally Posted by Argus Panoptes

Quote

No Sir, gas, oil and coal is available aplenty. What is not available is the money to pay for their use. That is an important difference.

Unquote.


Pakistan is short of oil, gas and coal as well as electricity. That is why GOP is spending about $12-billion to import it. It may be available a plenty in the Arab Gulf, but not in Pakistan.

Money is without doubt the main problem. However, even if all the circular debt is cleared and PSO has sufficient funds to import as much as they want; there will still be shortage of gas and load shedding will still be with us; albeit a lot less than it is now.

 

[Jango]

8% water is a huge exaggeration and definitely a ruse to get price relief from the Seller. In my time as Sales Engineer for Esso; I was often called to petrol stations complaining of excess water in diesel and petrol. However when sampling was done in my presence, it turned out that petrol station owner was only taking the sample from the bottom most layer of the tank.

Watch the following video from 35:30