- Petroleum minister says ten new exploration blocks will be presented to national and int’l companies through open bidding
ISLAMABAD: Petroleum Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan has said that a new petroleum policy would be announced in the last week of the current month after completion of necessary consultations with the provinces.
Winding up a debate on oil and gas price hike in the Senate, he said the incumbent government would soon present ten new blocks for exploration to the national and international exploration companies through open bidding. “Despite immense potential in the sector, no government during the last decade paid attention towards exploring oil and gas reserves.
He said unlike the past governments, the incumbent government has decided to give adequate representation to provinces in the boards of directors of 15 companies working under Ministry of Petroleum.
He lamented that the stone laying ceremony of Diamer-Bhasha Dam had been conducted thrice in the last 14 years by three successive governments, alleging that the money allocated for construction of Diamer-Bhasha Dam had been utilised to construct underpasses and other lavish yet meaningless projects.
The minister noted that the Neelum-Jhelum hydropower generation project was completed with an amount of Rs506 billion despite initial cost of only Rs84 billion. “The once profitmaking Pakistan Steel Mills had endured whooping losses of Rs470 billion thanks to policies of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government,” he added.
Ghulam Sarwar Khan said the initial cost of Islamabad Airport was Rs38 billion, but it was completed by spending over Rs1 trillion. He told the Upper House that the Sui Southern Gas Pipelines Limited (SSGPL) and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) endured Rs158 million losses for the first time in history during PML-N’s rule.
The government, he said, has decreased sales tax ratio on LPG from 17 per cent to 10 per cent, claiming that the country’s petroleum prices are lowest in the region.
“The Federal Investigation Agency and National Accountability Bureau are currently examining the LNG deal with the help of experts,” he said.
Refuting the opposition’s claim that the government has burdened the poor by hiking the gas prices, he said that gas prices had been increased by 10 to 15pc for the majority of consumers using 50 to 200 cubic metres of gas per month.
“The increase has been made to meet the deficit facing gas supply companies such as Sui Northern Gas Pipelines and Sui Southern Gas Company, he asserted.
He said there was no power, energy, water crisis in the country during 1970s. “Power generation agreements were inked with Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in a haphazard manner and on higher prices as compared to such agreements inked by other countries,” he concluded.
