Gas supply to PM Secretariat, Parliament House, others cut

 

ISLAMABAD: Gas supply to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, Parliament House, Parliament Lodges, Federal Shariat Court, Governor House, Murree, and other government departments was suspended for not clearing their dues, a private news channel reported on Monday.
According to the Sui Northern officials, Rs7.7 million dues are outstanding against the Parliament Lodges while the PM Secretariat is a gas defaulter of Rs4.7 million.Surprisingly, the Parliament House has to pay a sum of Rs1.3 million to gas regulators against its outstanding dues and the Federal Shariat Court owes Rs224,000 to gas utilities.The Governor House, Murree, has also been included in the list of gas defaulters as bills amounting to Rs188,000 are pending against it.

NASA approves space station supply launch

CAPE CANAVERAL: NASA is pressing ahead with Monday´s planned launch of a supply ship despite a critical computer outage at the International Space Station, determining the situation is safe.

Mission managers decided Sunday to proceed with the countdown for the SpaceX Dragon capsule, already a month late in delivering more than 2 tons of cargo.

"We´re good to go," said NASA space station program manager Mike Suffredini.

Suffredini noted the many important supplies aboard the Dragon, including a new spacesuit and repair parts for the older spacesuits already in orbit.

Much-needed food is also packed away."There´s a certain amount of urgency to go ahead and get these vehicles" at the space station, Suffredini told reporters.

These shipments have to fit around other space station operations, like crew comings and goings.

"Things start to bunch up," Suffredini said, "and so we´re just trying to fly as soon as we safely can, which is what we believe we´re doing.

"This backup computer, located on the outside of the space station, mysteriously failed to work when activated Friday.

The main computer kept operating perfectly, and the six-man crew was never in any danger.

NASA debated whether to delay the SpaceX mission and, on Sunday, determined the station has sufficient redundancy to safely support the visiting vessel.

A spacewalk will be required, meanwhile, to replace the bad computer. Engineers don´t know why it failed.

Suffredini said the spacewalk will be conducted by a pair of astronauts on April 22, using suits outfitted with new fan components to avoid the near-disaster that occurred last summer.

An Italian astronaut almost drowned when his helmet flooded with water from the suit´s cooling system.

An April 22 spacewalk will give SpaceX two chances to get its unmanned Dragon capsule flying.

Good weather is forecast for Monday´s 4:58 p.m. (2058 GMT) launch. If that doesn´t work, the next launch attempt for the California company´s Falcon rocket would come Friday.

Russia won’t switch off gas supply to Europe-Oettinger in magazine

BERLIN: European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger does not expect Russia to switch off gas supplies to Europe over the Ukraine crisis, he told German magazine Wirtschaftswoche in an interview published on Saturday.
"I don't believe it would be in Russia's interests," Oettinger was quoted as saying.
Russian gas export giant Gazprom issued a thinly veiled warning on Friday that it could stop shipping gas to Ukraine over unpaid bills.
Ukraine is a major gas transit nation for supplies from Russia to the European Union, which relies on Russia for about a quarter of its gas.
But Oettinger said a cut-off would not be beneficial for the company: "Gazprom has an interest in its daily sales revenues so that investment is worthwhile and turnover is generated."
Oettinger said if no more gas flowed through Ukraine, it would affect 14 percent of European gas consumption.
In early 2009 Gazprom cut off gas to Ukraine over unpaid bills, leading to reductions in European supplies during a cold winter.
But Oettinger said Europe was better placed to deal with such a scenario given that the winter had been mild, gas storage sites were fuller than a year ago and European Union countries were now obliged to ensure they had 30 days' worth of supplies.
"We're in a better position than we were five years ago," he said.

On strike: Oil tankers suspend fuel supply as protest enters third day

Oil tankers stand idle in Karachi on Friday after a strike by their owners started. PHOTO: ONLINE

KARACHI:  After Karachi, the All Pakistan Oil Tankers Owners Association suspended the supply of furnace oil and other fuel to Shikarpur and Quetta as their strike against the government-owned Pakistan State Oil (PSO) entered the third consecutive day on Friday.

Members of the association and oil tankers drivers had staged a protest demonstration at their camp on Shireen Jinnah Colony Road. The association has suspended supply of furnace oil and other fuel products from the PSO to all stations in Karachi since Wednesday.
“We are expanding our protest circle to all oil marketing companies and will suspend fuel supply across the country if the managing director of the PSO or other top officials don’t address our demands,” said Mir Yousuf Shahwani, the chairperson of the association, while talking to The Express Tribune, adding that three rounds of negotiations with the PSO officials and contractors have failed.

The oil tankers’ representatives demand that the government arrest the persons involved in the killing of their colleague, Mehboob Shah, who was shot dead for offering resistance in a mugging incident while carrying cash from a private bank in Shireen Jinnah Colony. They also demanded security for their colleagues in the oil terminal areas in Keamari and Shireen Jinnah Colony.
The association also demanded that the PSO return all fines taken from the oil tankers who failed the sample tests. Their vehicles were also blacklisted by the oil company subsequently. “The PSO should clear our insurance claims without any delay and stop illegal and unlawful fines over fuel shortages,” said the association’s general secretary Shafiq Kakar, adding that the PSO had imposed fines of up to Rs300,000 in case of fuel shortages and sample failure in addition to blacklisting the vehicles.
“If the fuel is filled, sealed, carried and emptied by the PSO then how can they fine the oil tankers owner? We transport sealed freight. It is the PSO’s responsibility if the fuel gets spoiled. They have trackers system to keep a check on the oil tankers,” he said.