The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) meeting chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar was held on Friday in which the decision to allocate 10 mmcfd gas from Tolang Gas field to SNGPL. The decision was taken in view of improving gas supply to all sectors including power plants. The price of gas will be as per the applicable petroleum policy.
The Hungarian energy firm MOL’s discovery of gas reserves in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is expected to add 10 mmcfd gas from the Tolang field in Kohat district of KP in June this year.
The Ministry of Water and Power was of the view that the gas supplies discovered by MOL should be utilised to meet the energy needs of the power producers, especially the highly efficient gas-based power plants. On the contrary, the committee approved the summary of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources.
Furthermore, the ECC also approved the proposal from the Ministry of Finance for issuance of Letter of Comfort to National Bank of Pakistan or any other financial institution which will in turn issue Standby Letter of Credit (SBLC) for the comfort of commercial lenders of the Lahore-Sialkot Motorway project.
In addition, the ECC also reviewed and approved a proposal of the Ministry of Commerce related to the PM’s Package of Incentives for Exporters. The package allows extension in the deadline for submission of claims from 90 days after shipment to 120 days after shipment for export shipments made until March 31, 2017. ECC also approved inclusion of certain finished leather projects in the DLTL order under the package.
After reviewing a proposal of the Ministry of Petroleum regarding transportation of crude oil from Adhi Oil Field, the ECC allowed the concerned company to contract the transportation arrangement of crude oil from the field exclusively on open competition basis independent of the involvement of the government.
Additionally, the ECC allowed the disbursement of salaries amounting Rs 380m for January 2017 to Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) employees purely on compassionate grounds.
