Pakistan: Gas curtailment for fertilizer sector : Fertilizer shortage could necessitate ...

The short supply of gas to the fertilizer sector will trigger increase in prices of fertilizers to cope up with the losses and put pressure on the forex reserves due to the anticipated import to meet the gap.

In this regard, first indication came from Engro Corporation, which announced on Friday to increase the prices of its fertilizers to recover the loss to be caused by the curtailment of gas to its plants and market players said that Engro increased the price of urea by Rs 75 per bag.

Pakistan: 'Lesco system too old to sustain load'

THE transmission and distribution system of the Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) has become completely outdated to sustain the power load for more than an hour, as claimed by a high official of the company on the condition of anonymity. Keeping in view the fact, the Lahorites can consider the recent loadshedding a blessing because the situation can be even worse.

The News has learnt that according to a very conservative estimate, the minor trippings within the Lesco exceed over 50 under normal conditions, i.e. when the load supply is not that high and when the demand is also very consistent throughout the day.

The sources told this correspondent that there were a total of 29 major trippings in Lesco on Friday. Six trippings were in 1st circle, three in 2nd, 12 in 3rd, one in 5th, five in 6th and two in 7th circle.

Argentina: Ahora falta nafta y venden por cupos

Despite the strong gains that had fuel in recent weeks, the service stations are still missing from the suppliers. A lack of diesel that worsened this week with long queues of trucks, now joined in gasoline shortages.

Argentina: Falta gasoil y no habría naftas

According to the employer, service stations, the Santa Fe-Rosario, today did not sell diesel. The same picture was seen in those located at the entrances to the capital, even though the officers awaited the arrival of tanks engaged for today and tomorrow.

Boz admitted that the outlook will remain difficult for the sector in the coming months. "It's a logical consequence of the mismatch in prices. If this continues, will increase the closure of service stations, "he predicted.

Nigeria: Nigerian rebels claim oil attack in Niger Delta

A Nigerian militant faction on Friday claimed it had attacked a Shell-operated (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) oil facility in the Niger Delta, but the Anglo-Dutch firm denied any such incidents in the area.

The Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC) said it blew up the "Shell Creek manifold" in Buguma in Rivers state late on Thursday to mark the beginning of a new operation.

Pakistan: Loadshedding increases to five hours

The citizens in various areas across Karachi spent a sleepless night on Thursday owing to the recurring power breakdowns. The outages that went up to five hours during a 24 hour period were the result of faults in the Transmission and Distribution (T&D) systems of the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) while the overloading of the network also aggravated to the problem.

Residents of various localities including those in Malir and Model Colony complained that for the last couple of days KESC had increased the load shedding by up to five hours during 24 hours after the announcement of 300 megawatt (MW) reduction from Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco).