ISLAMABAD: The Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDC) board of directors has suggested disputable candidates for the appointment of a new managing director in Pakistan’s biggest state-run oil and gas explorer.
According to a report in Express Tribune, officials said the company’s board had been constituted by the previous PML-N administration and it was still looking towards vested interests.
OGDC’s board has commenced the process for the appointment of new managing director and suggested names of officials who were working in its contracting entities.
This is against the rules, as the managing director is supposed to be appointed from an exploration company and not any contracting entity of OGDC.
OGDC’s board had previously initiated the process for appointment and recommended the previous names that it has put forth now.
It has again nominated Shehryar Lodhi and Nadeem Bajwa in the panel of suggested candidates at serial 1 & 2, respectively.
Mr Bajwa is employed at Weatherford and Mr Lodhi is an employee of Schlumber and has been involved in getting multi-million-dollar contracts from OGDC previously.
The previous suggestions put forth by the board in the last three years indicate the board’s inclination for service providers instead of those within the E&P industry.
This also indicates the influential and strong lobby that the service providers have within in the board.
Also, the current acting managing director Zahid Mir is at serial 3 of the list and has been working at this post since 2015 and remains the only candidate from the E&P sector.
As per officials in the Petroleum Division, the OGDC board would be overhauled and new directors with experience and professional standing will be chosen.
According to the ministry, the current board has political appointees with vested motives.
In an interesting twist, the new MD of OGDC will also be selected by the current board and the new board, whenever constituted, would have no role in the appointment.
