The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is considering setting January 28 as the date for the General Elections 2024, sources said. The top electoral body, commencing its preparations for upcoming elections, is expected to apprise the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) in writing in next hearing. Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, earlier this week, during the apex court’s hearing on the issue of timely elections, observed that it was “not possible” to meet the 90-day deadline for holding elections and lamented the lack of preparations of the petitioners. The CJP’s remarks came as he is leading a three-member bench to hear the petitions filed seeking elections within the 90-day constitutional limit.
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ECP likely to fix Jan 28 for Elections.
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Investment treaty gets go-ahead
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An executive committee of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) has given the go-ahead for negotiating the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) with Saudi Arabia aimed at addressing concerns of the kingdom that wants international arbitration in case of an investment dispute. The investment treaty with Saudi Arabia and Qatar would be annexed with the free trade agreement (FTA) between Pakistan and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the preliminary FTA late last month but postponed the inking of the final FTA till the agreement on BIT. The decision would now be placed before the apex committee of the SIFC, a civil-military body working to bring foreign investment, for formal endorsement in its next meeting. The investment treaty would be negotiated on the basis of the new standard BIT template, which provides that in case of a dispute the arbitration will be under the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID Convention) in Washington.
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China and Pakistan have signed an addendum to the CPEC’s framework agreement under which the country’s first-ever state-of-the-art mega Main Line-1 (ML-1) project will now be executed with a rationalised cost of $6.678 billion instead of the earlier one of $9.85bn. The addendum related to the revised ML-1 project was signed by the representatives of the two countries on the sidelines of the recent Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) forum on Oct 17 and 18. The project consisted of three phases having a total length of 1,726km. Phase-1, 2, 3 and 4 comprise Karachi-Multan, Multan-Lahore, Lahore-Lalamusa and Lalamusa-Peshawar. The design speed, according to the revised project would be up to 140km per hour which can easily be increased to 160km per hour on the upgraded track once the entire left/right of the track is fenced and some other upgrade work is done completely.
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Work on ML-1 to begin in June 2024
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NRL secures exploration lease in Balochistan
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National Resources Limited (NRL), a subsidiary of YB Pakistan Limited, Reliance Commodities (Pvt) Limited, and Liberty Mills Limited, has been granted a mineral exploration lease in Chagai district, Balochistan. The awarded area spans 500 square kilometers in the Chagai region, and NRL’s ambitious project aims to attract significant investments into the mining sector, providing both direct and indirect employment opportunities, particularly in Balochistan. With the feasibility in mind, NRL also intends to refine the extracted minerals locally before exporting them. NRL has already obtained No Objection Certificates (NOCs) from both the Environmental and Forest & Wildlife departments, enabling the company to commence exploration activities. The company’s board has greenlit an exploration plan, and they are currently in the process of hiring exploration resources to kick-start physical operations. The company is also formulating an extensive Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) plan to benefit the local communities, said the statement. The plan includes the construction of a model NRL compound in the area, featuring a school, playground, clinic, and reverse osmosis (RO) plant.
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Pakistan is set to increase its imports of Russian crude oil by up to 3.6 million tonnes per year from January 2024, as two refineries find it cheaper and more profitable to refine the URAL grade and pay in yuan instead of US dollars. Private sector refinery Cnergyico PK Limited has planned to import two cargos of 100,000 tonnes every month under a long-term agreement with a Russian company, while Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL), which is 64 percent owned by state-owned Pakistan State Oil (PSO), will import up to 1.2 million tonnes of URAL per year under a flexible business-to-business model depending on the price and volume. Cnergyico found the refining of 100,000 tonnes of URAL economically viable, and it has produced 58-60 percent furnace oil, which will be exported by the private refinery. However, it also produced 12-13 percent of naphtha (converted into Motor Gasoline) and 20-22 percent diesel. Keeping in view the encouraging yields from URAL. and post successful Ministerial visit to Moscow it is expected that from December onwards two cargos of URAL will be processed by private refinery, each having 100,000 tonnes of crude. CPL has a large capacity to refine 156,000 barrels per day and can easily refine 200,000 tons of URALs in a month on top of their existing crude supply arrangements. Cnergyico Limited also confirms that it is in talks with a Russian company for a long-term agreement, and it is likely to start importing two cargos of URAL every month from January 2024.
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Refineries plan to import 3.6m tonnes of Russian oil annually
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Petroleum sector: Pakistan, China sign MoU on $1.5bn investment
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The United Energy Group of China and Pakistan Refinery Limited signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the investment worth $ 1.5 billion in the petroleum sector. Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar and Federal Energy Minister Muhammad Ali also witnessed the ceremony. The MoU will help increase the petrol production capacity of the refinery from 250,000 metric tons to 1.6 million metric tons and high-speed diesel from 0.6 million metric tons to 2 million metric tons. The petrol and high-speed diesel, processed at the refinery, would prove to be an alternative to the costly imported fuel.
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Pakistan and Turkey are looking to increase their bilateral trade to $5 billion in the near-term, as they seek to capitalise on their close political and strategic ties, officials from both countries. Turkish Ambassador in Pakistan Dr. Mehmet Pacaci said that the two countries had signed a Trade in Goods Agreement (TGA) and that Pakistan had joined the TIR convention, which facilitates land-based cargo transportation. "These steps would provide new opportunities for enhancing trade and economic cooperation," Ambassador Pacaci said at a meeting with the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) in Karachi, where he was accompanied by a team of senior Turkish diplomats. He said that Pakistan, with its population of nearly 250 million, was very important for Turkey economically, and that the long-term bilateral trade potential could reach $20-25 billion. Pacaci also emphasized the importance of people-to-people (P2P) linkages between Pakistan and Turkey, and said that both countries should make full use of mutually-shared multilateral platforms such as OIC and ECO.
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Pakistan, Turkey aim to boost trade to $5 billion with new deals
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Pakistan urged not to deport Afghan US visa, refugee applicants
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A group of former top US officials and US resettlement organisations urged Pakistan to exempt from deportation to Afghanistan thousands of Afghan applicants for special US visas or refugee relocation to the United States. The caretaker government has set a Nov 1 deadline for all illegal immigrants, including hundreds of thousands of Afghans, to leave the country or face forcible expulsion. Some 20,000 or more Afghans who fled the 2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan are in Pakistan awaiting the processing of their applications for US Special Immigration Visas (SIVs) or resettlement in the United States as refugees. “To deport them back to an environment where their lives would be in jeopardy runs counter to humanitarian principles and international accords” signed by Pakistan, said an open letter sent to the Pakistani embassy signed by 80 former senior US officials, other individuals and US resettlement groups. The government has said the deportation process would be orderly and conducted in phases and could begin with people with criminal records. According to caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti, some 1.73 million Afghans in the country have no legal documents.
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Pakistan International Container Terminal Ltd (PICT) said it has found no “immediate financial viable business opportunity” in a review exercise it held recently to look for possible business avenues. One of the four container-terminal operators in Pakistan until recently, PICT lost its principal line of business when its 21-year concession agreement with the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) expired on June 17. The company operated a container terminal on berths six to nine, which were taken over by the port authority on June 18. Resultantly, the fundamentals of future business operations have ceased with the expiry of the concession agreement. The original concession agreement with the KPT requires that PICT must keep its legal existence for a minimum of three years following the expiry of the contract. However, the company is allowed to “scan the market” on a regular basis for any financially attractive business opportunities compatible with related provisions in its constitutional document. For the time being, PICT is involved in a complex handover procedure with KPT, including the smooth transition to the new concession holder.
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Pakistan International Container Terminal Ltd yet to find business opportunity
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Saudi firm intends to acquire majority stake in Shell Pakistan
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WAFI Energy LLC, a prominent company in the fuel station sector in Saudi Arabia, has expressed its intent to acquire 77.42% ownership in Shell Pakistan Limited. This was stated by Shell Pakistan, in a stock filing at the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Oct 31, confirming that Shell Pakistan Limited (SHELL) has received a firm intention from WAFI Energy LLC to acquire control of 165,700,304 (up to 77.42%) voting shares of the target company. WAFI Energy is a rapidly expanding network of retail gas stations and holds the exclusive license for the Shell Retail Network (gas stations) in Saudi Arabia, as per the notice. Brokerage house Arif Habib Limited (AHL) has been appointed as the manager for WAFI Energy’s acquisition offer. AHL has submitted a public announcement expressing Saudi firm’s intention to acquire up to 77.42% of Shell Pakistan’s shares. WAFI Energy was established in 2012 with an authorized and paid-up capital of 3 million Saudi Riyal, as stated in the AHL notice. Earlier on June 14, Shell Petroleum (Shell plc), one of the world’s preeminent oil and gas conglomerates, had declared its intention to relinquish its stake in Shell Pakistan, its subsidiary in the nation. At that time, Shell Pakistan emphasized that the transition would not affect its ongoing business operations, which would continue as usual. Although the June announcement did not specify the exact shareholding to be divested, the annual report for the year ending December 31, 2022, indicated that Shell plc held a 77.42% stake in its Pakistan subsidiary, equivalent to slightly over 165.7 million shares. In July, Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) and Air Link Communication issued separate notifications to the PSX, declaring their intention to acquire control of Shell Pakistan. The two companies had set their sights on jointly acquiring a staggering 77.42% – 165.7 million shares – through an agreement, and an additional 11.29% – which translates into 24.16 million shares – through a public offer.
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