The chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) sub-committee has criticised the Petroleum Division for the alleged misappropriation of training funds, stating that officials had used the money for a trip to Rome, accompanied by their spouses, while neglecting the children living near oil and gas exploration fields. This issue arose during discussions on the audit of funds allocated to the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), according to a news report.Â
The chairman directed auditors to conduct a special audit of millions of dollars in training funds, following allegations of misuse. The directive was issued during a meeting of the sub-committee, chaired by Convener Syed Naveed Qamar, at Parliament House.Â
According to auditors, OGDCL had a training fund of $584,000, but only 5% of it was utilised. However, OGDCL Managing Director Ahmad Hayat Lak disputed these claims, arguing that the company had disbursed half of the funds to the Directorate General of Petroleum Concessions and had spent more than half of the total amount on local and international training for officials.
The sub-committee also discussed audit findings related to OGDCL’s strategic oil storage facilities. Lak defended the facilities, explaining that they had been crucial in storing oil when the Attock Refinery had shut down. He added that the storage was also used to accommodate oil from other fields in the country.
Regarding the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), the chairman raised concerns over the unaccounted-for-gas (UFG) benchmark set by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra). He criticised Ogra for setting an unrealistic benchmark, as SSGC has consistently faced a 17% UFG, costing consumers Rs90 billion and leading to an additional loss of Rs129 billion over the past years.
In response, SSGC Managing Director Amin Rajput highlighted that the company had made significant progress in reducing the UFG, achieving a reduction to 10.56% in the fiscal year 2023-24, compared to 13% in the previous year. He attributed the improvements to measures taken despite challenges in Balochistan, where several instances of meter tampering had been detected.
Finally, the MD updated the sub-committee on the resolution of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) swap issue between SSGC and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL). A settlement agreement had been signed, with SSGC paying Rs20 billion to SNGPL, and the remaining Rs11 billion to be paid in instalments.
