After major blow for January, Pakistan secures two LNG bids for February 2021

Pakistan got bids from five LNG trading companies for two LNG cargoes for February 2021 at the highest price of up to 32.4888% of Brent, as the country's gas crisis continues to grow.

The development comes after no bids were received for the first time from LNG suppliers for the first half of January. At the time, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Petroleum, Nadeem Babar had brushed aside concerns and had said that the government has a plan to avoid a gas crisis.

But Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL) obtained the lowest bids for February 15-16 and February 23-24, 2021 at a price of 20.8483-23.4331% of Brent.

PLL had sought bids for two LNG cargoes and it secured five bids from LNG trading companies out of which Total Company stood disqualified. The remaining four LNG trading companies that qualified for the bids included SOCAR, Trafigura, GUNVOR, and ENOC.

LNG trading company SOCAR gave the lowest bid for February 15-16 for $10.5 per million British thermal unit (mmbtu), while ENOC appeared with the lowest bid for February 23-24 for $11.70 per mmbtu.

GUNVOR - 25.5666% of Brent for February 15-16 and 23.5666% of Brent for February 23-24

ECNOC - no bid submitted for February 15-16. For February 23-24, it offered a bid at 20.8483% of Brent.

Trafigura - two bids submitted for two time slots with highest prices. It deposited its bid at 32.4888% of Brent for February 15-16 and 25.9777% of Brent for February 23-24, 2021.

A report by the The News quoted independent industrial sources as saying that better prices could have been attracted by the government if it had arranged the bidding for spot cargoes for winter in September 2020.

“The government obtained the LNG prices at more than the diesel price as LNG cargoes are already booked across the globe," the source said.

Australia's Gorgan company which produced an estimated 16.5 million tons to 18 million tons of LNG per year has shut down, sources said. This had created an LNG shortage in the international market so trading companies are unable to submit bids at reasonable prices.

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Azhar, Fawad at crease as Pakistan need 302 runs to win on last day

Mount Maunganui: Azhar Ali (34*) and Fawad Alam (21*) held their nerves calm as Pakistan survived to reach 71-3 at stumps on day 4 against New Zealand.

Needing 372 runs to win the opening Test, Pakistan started their batting poorly with openers Abid Ali and Shan Masood getting out for naught. Haris Sohail and Azhar Ali supported Pakistan from 0-2 to 37-2 but their partnership couldn’t last long as Haris fell prey to Tim Southee after scoring 9 runs.

Then, Azhar and Fawad got their hands on New Zealand bowlers and the duo scored 34 runs together so far while chasing 373 runs. They need 302 runs to win on the last day of the opening Test.

Southee bagged two wickets while Trent Boult struck once as New Zealand took three early wickets to maintain their supremacy on the scoreboard.

Boult removed Abid while Southee dismissed Shan for naught to have Pakistan two down for four runs at tea, still needing 369 runs with four sessions remaining.

Earlier, New Zealand declared at 180 for five, half-an-hour before tea. Openers Tom Blundell and Tom Latham put on 111 for the first wicket.

Blundell was bowled out for 64 trying to slog Mohammad Abbas over midwicket. Latham reached his 20th Test fifty with a cover-drive but he was dismissed soon after for 53 when Pakistan successfully switched to a short-ball attack.

Kane Williamson went for 21 when he top-edged a pull shot to wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan, and Henry Nicholls was caught at fine leg for 11.

BJ Watling was run out for five, leaving Ross Taylor not out 12 and Mitchell Santner on six at the close. For Pakistan, Naseem Shah took three for 55.

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BMW aims for 20% of its vehicles to be electric by 2023

German luxury carmaker BMW is planning to step up its production of electric vehicles, Chief Executive Oliver Zipse told German daily Augsburger Allgemeine.

“We are significantly increasing the number of electric vehicles. Between 2021 and 2023, we will build a quarter of a million more electric cars than originally planned”, Zipse told the newspaper’s Monday edition according to a pre-released version.

BMW wants roughly every fifth car it sells to be powered by an electric engine by 2023, Zipse said, compared to about 8% this year.

The manager also reiterated his call to speed up the expansion of charging infrastructure.

“15,000 private and about 1,300 public charging points would have to be put into operation every week as of today. Unfortunately, we are a long way from that”, he told the paper.

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Asad Umar recovers from COVID-19, thanks people for their prayers

Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Monday announced that he has tested negative for COVID-19 after successfully completing his quarantine period.

"I just received my COVID-19 test results which have turned out to be negative by the mercy of Allah," Asad Umar wrote on Twitter.

He thanked all those who asked about his health and wished him a speedy recovery.

میرا کرونا ٹیسٹ رزلٹ ابھی ملا جو الحمدللہ منفی ہے. پچھلے 10 دن میں وہ سب لوگ جنہوں نے خیریت دریافت کی اور دعائیں کی ان سب کا تہہ دل سے مشکور ہوں. اپنا اور اپنے پیاروں کا خیال رکھیں اور احتیاط کریں. اللہ آپ سب کو اپنے حفظ و امان میں رکھے

— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) December 28, 2020

"I am grateful to all those people, who inquired about my health and prayed for me, from the bottom of my heart," the federal minister wrote.

The minister also appealed to the masses to take care of themselves and exercise precautions to stay away from the potentially-deadly virus.

"May Allah keep everyone safe," he wrote.

Asad Umar tested positive for the novel coronavirus on December 18, after which he isolated himself at home.

"Just got my Covid test result and it is positive," Asad Umar, who also heads the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC), Pakistan's coronavirus-monitoring body, had earlier written on Twitter.

More than 100 Pakistani politicians contracted coronavirus

More than 100 Pakistani politicians, including PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif, Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar, Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani, and National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, among many others, previously tested positive for coronavirus, most of whom went into self-isolation and recovered.

PTI Punjab MPA Shaheen Raza was the first lawmaker in the country who died due to COVID-19 a few months ago.

PTI MPA Mian Jamsheduddin Kakakhel from Nowshera and PML-N MPA Shaukat Manzoor Cheema from Gujranwala also passed away in June after being placed on a ventilator for a few days.

Owing to the growing number of coronavirus positive cases in the country amid the second wave of the pandemic, the government had repeatedly appealed to the Opposition to suspend its jalsas.

The Opposition, on the other hand, had refused to suspend its political gatherings and rallies and continued to demand Prime Minister Imran Khan step down before they launch a long march to Islamabad.

Pakistan reports 537 coronavirus deaths in last seven days

According to the NCOC, the novel coronavirus has claimed 1,838 lives in the past 27 days across the country.

Although the month of December saw a rapid increase in coronavirus-related deaths, a noticeable drop in new infections has been observed across the country in the last week.

A weekly analysis showed that the 20,493 cases were reported in the week that started December 6. The number of infections fell to 18,181 in the next seven days while the past week saw 14,341 coronavirus cases across the country.

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Asad Umar recovers from COVID-19, thanks people for their prayers

Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Monday announced that he has tested negative for COVID-19 after successfully completing his quarantine period.

"I just received my COVID-19 test results which have turned out to be negative by the mercy of Allah," Asad Umar wrote on Twitter.

He thanked all those who asked about his health and wished him a speedy recovery.

میرا کرونا ٹیسٹ رزلٹ ابھی ملا جو الحمدللہ منفی ہے. پچھلے 10 دن میں وہ سب لوگ جنہوں نے خیریت دریافت کی اور دعائیں کی ان سب کا تہہ دل سے مشکور ہوں. اپنا اور اپنے پیاروں کا خیال رکھیں اور احتیاط کریں. اللہ آپ سب کو اپنے حفظ و امان میں رکھے

— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) December 28, 2020

"I am grateful to all those people, who inquired about my health and prayed for me, from the bottom of my heart," the federal minister wrote.

The minister also appealed to the masses to take care of themselves and exercise precautions to stay away from the potentially-deadly virus.

"May Allah keep everyone safe," he wrote.

Asad Umar tested positive for the novel coronavirus on December 18, after which he isolated himself at home.

"Just got my Covid test result and it is positive," Asad Umar, who also heads the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC), Pakistan's coronavirus-monitoring body, had earlier written on Twitter.

More than 100 Pakistani politicians contracted coronavirus

More than 100 Pakistani politicians, including PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif, Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar, Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani, and National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, among many others, previously tested positive for coronavirus, most of whom went into self-isolation and recovered.

PTI Punjab MPA Shaheen Raza was the first lawmaker in the country who died due to COVID-19 a few months ago.

PTI MPA Mian Jamsheduddin Kakakhel from Nowshera and PML-N MPA Shaukat Manzoor Cheema from Gujranwala also passed away in June after being placed on a ventilator for a few days.

Owing to the growing number of coronavirus positive cases in the country amid the second wave of the pandemic, the government had repeatedly appealed to the Opposition to suspend its jalsas.

The Opposition, on the other hand, had refused to suspend its political gatherings and rallies and continued to demand Prime Minister Imran Khan step down before they launch a long march to Islamabad.

Pakistan reports 537 coronavirus deaths in last seven days

According to the NCOC, the novel coronavirus has claimed 1,838 lives in the past 27 days across the country.

Although the month of December saw a rapid increase in coronavirus-related deaths, a noticeable drop in new infections has been observed across the country in the last week.

A weekly analysis showed that the 20,493 cases were reported in the week that started December 6. The number of infections fell to 18,181 in the next seven days while the past week saw 14,341 coronavirus cases across the country.

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Supporters of 'incompetent' govt are also culprits: Fazl

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Monday that even the supporters of the "incompetent" government are culprits and involved in all the problems being faced by the country today.

Addressing a gathering of JUI-F workers in Tank, Fazl said that the incumbent government did not have the right to stay in office as it was "illegitimate" and "incompetent".

"This illegitimate government is a product of fraud," he said, adding that the country belongs to everyone and that it wasn't anyone's personal property.

"I am bound by the oath I have taken [...] In this situation, we have to do principled politics," Fazl said, adding that all Opposition parties were on the same page that the 2018 general elections were "rigged".

Today, the "illegitimate government" is on a campaign to defame me, Fazl said, adding that it had attempted to discredit him by serving a NAB questionnaire.

This is an attack on Jamiat, Fazl said, adding that if he were to appear before the National Accountability Bureau, his "entire party would come along with him."

"We don't accept pressure, we exert it," Fazl warned.

Fazl said that the incumbent government was weakening institutions and that it was equal to pulling out a tree from its roots.

The JUI-F chief said that the overall annual growth had fallen below zero and predicted that it would fall further in the next two years. "The State Bank says that the country's growth has never fallen to such an extent."

Watch: Maryam Nawaz speaks Sindhi in Larkana

"Pakistan is facing internal and external problems," Fazl said, adding that the state would be strong when its economic conditions improved.

Fazl revealed that PML-N supremo and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had written two letters — one addressed to him and the other to PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif.

Talking about the contents of the letter, the JUI-F chief said that Nawaz regretted the PML-N's decision of having its parliamentarians take oath after the elections, despite Fazl saying otherwise.

The comments come a day after several political leaders of PDM addressed crowds gathered on Sunday at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh in Larkana to commemorate the 13th death anniversary of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

The 11-party Opposition alliance, once more, asked Prime Minister Imran Khan "to step down" or face the movement's long march to Islamabad with the aim to "dethrone him".

PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that if by January 31, the premier does not resign, the jiyalas (party loyalists) will march down to the capital and "drag him off his seat".

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Supporters of 'incompetent' govt are also culprits: Fazl

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Monday that even the supporters of the "incompetent" government are culprits and involved in all the problems being faced by the country today.

Addressing a gathering of JUI-F workers in Tank, Fazl said that the incumbent government did not have the right to stay in office as it was "illegitimate" and "incompetent".

"This illegitimate government is a product of fraud," he said, adding that the country belongs to everyone and that it wasn't anyone's personal property.

"I am bound by the oath I have taken [...] In this situation, we have to do principled politics," Fazl said, adding that all Opposition parties were on the same page that the 2018 general elections were "rigged".

Today, the "illegitimate government" is on a campaign to defame me, Fazl said, adding that it had attempted to discredit him by serving a NAB questionnaire.

This is an attack on Jamiat, Fazl said, adding that if he were to appear before the National Accountability Bureau, his "entire party would come along with him."

"We don't accept pressure, we exert it," Fazl warned.

Fazl said that the incumbent government was weakening institutions and that it was equal to pulling out a tree from its roots.

The JUI-F chief said that the overall annual growth had fallen below zero and predicted that it would fall further in the next two years. "The State Bank says that the country's growth has never fallen to such an extent."

Watch: Maryam Nawaz speaks Sindhi in Larkana

"Pakistan is facing internal and external problems," Fazl said, adding that the state would be strong when its economic conditions improved.

Fazl revealed that PML-N supremo and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had written two letters — one addressed to him and the other to PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif.

Talking about the contents of the letter, the JUI-F chief said that Nawaz regretted the PML-N's decision of having its parliamentarians take oath after the elections, despite Fazl saying otherwise.

The comments come a day after several political leaders of PDM addressed crowds gathered on Sunday at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh in Larkana to commemorate the 13th death anniversary of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

The 11-party Opposition alliance, once more, asked Prime Minister Imran Khan "to step down" or face the movement's long march to Islamabad with the aim to "dethrone him".

PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that if by January 31, the premier does not resign, the jiyalas (party loyalists) will march down to the capital and "drag him off his seat".

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