June 07, 2015

News

ECC approves 85,000 tonnes of wheat for TDPs of FATA
INP

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet (ECC) chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday approved the provision of remaining amount of 85,000MT of wheat to the temporarily displaced people (TDPs) of FATA out of the total amount of 155,000 MT, which was already approved in principal by the forum.

The wheat would be consumed during the period of June to September 2015. The Finance ministry would pay Rs 3.444 billion for this quantity, as fixed by the Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Service Corporation (PASSCO).

On a summary moved by the ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources for the Import of petroleum products on cost and freight (C&F) basis, the ECC decided that Pakistan State Oil (PSO) would be allowed to import premier motor gasoline (PMG) and low sulphur furnace oil (LSFO) on C&F basis while import of high sulphur furnace oil (HSFO) would be through the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC).

For the Import of liquefied natural gas (LNG), the Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) would be used to pick next four cargoes of LNG from Ras Laffan power company, Qatar. The ECC decided that PSO, being a corporate entity, might decide on the issue of buying LNG on free on board (FOB) basis till the finalisation of LNG supply agreement with Qatar.

The ECC also approved pricing parameter for regasified LNG, which includes PSO’s margin up to 4% and SNGPL/SSGL administrative margin up to $ 0.05/MMBTU, subject to review after three months by a committee consisting of Finance secretary, Petroleum secretary, Water and Power secretary and Law secretary. On a summary moved by Petroleum and Natural Resources ministry “Fast Track LNG Import Terminal, LNG Services, Storage and Re-gasification”, the ECC approved to allow the Port Qasim Authority (PQA) to follow the Society of International Gas Tanker and Terminal Operators (SIGTTO) standards or to decide on its own technical parameters for berthing of LNG ships.

ECC also gave approval for the extension of time period for the export of 1.2 million tons of wheat till the 31st of July 2015 to the provinces of Punjab and Sindh.

 

Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk

 

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