Tag Archives: Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority

Punjab turns No.1 consumer of gas

on 12/03/2018

Three power plants makes it to surpass Sindh

Punjab has emerged as the single largest beneficiary of both imported LNG and locally produced natural gas. Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority  OGRA’s Annual Report 2016-17 said Punjab replaced Sindh as the single largest consumer of gas. It utilised 47% of the total 2,915 million standard cubic feet per day (mscfd) of the fuel during the said year, compared to 42% of 2,727 mscfd last year and left Sindh behind in consumption.

The federal and provincial governments set up three imported gas-fired power plants with total capacity of 3,600 megawatts in Punjab. They They have luckily come online and are believed to increase production with availability of more gas into the system. Sindh largely failed to take benefit of the imported LNG, as its share in total consumption fell to 43% compared to 46% last year.  KPK and Balochistan’s ranks in consumption remained unchanged at third and fourth position, respectively. However, KPK’s consumption fell to 7% from 10%, while Balochistan consumption remained unchanged at 2%.

Recently, the provincial government has initiated the fourth LNG-fired power plant of 1,200MW.  Federal government has recently tasked the two gas utility firms; Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) to lay down the third gas pipeline from Karachi to Punjab to increase gas transportation to LNG-based power plants and CNG filling stations and commercial and industrial users.

Pakistan needs 7 billion cubic feet per day  of gas to meet its requirement. Out of this, 3.9 bcfd is covered by domestic production and 1.2 bcfd comes through imports. Surprisingly, the share of Punjab in total gas production remained negligible at 3% in both years; FY16 and FY17. This, however, was standing at 5% two years ago in FY15.

Despite a notable drop in consumption, Sindh maintained its number one rank at 56%, compared to 63% last year. Balochistan produced 13%, compared to 17%, while K-P generated 12% compared to 7%.The share of imported LNG gas in total gas supplies stands at 16% in the year, the regulator said.

On the contrary, Sindh which remains the single largest producer of gas and facilitating transportation of imported gas to Punjab, continued to face gas outages and low gas pressure in the province, particularly at commercial (including CNG filling station), industrial zones and residential areas.

OGRA reported that the power sector emerged as the single largest consumer of available gas in the country. It utilised 32% of the gas in FY17, followed by fertiliser and residential at 21% each. Captive power plants used 11%, general industry 9% and transport utilised 5% of the total gas in the year.

170 employees of OGDCL appointed on forged documents

on 03/01/2018

As many as 170 employees of the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) have been found guilty of submitting fake or forged documents during scrutiny.

Audit officials, during a briefing on the audit report of the petroleum ministry, told the Public Accounts committee that out of the total 170 employees who were found guilty, five were sent on forced retirement with complete incentives, 18 were demoted to lower grades, whereas, 80 employees were facing cases in the court.

The committee was informed that the documents of 15,000 OGDCL employees were scrutinized. The managing director of the company told the committee that some of the employees had forged their documents altering their dates of birth, grades or divisions in their educational documents.

In his initial response to the report, PAC Chairman Khursheed Shah opted to sweep the matter under the carpet, questioning the audit officials why they were pushing the matters of employees, but later deferred the para after the officials opposed him.

The audit officials said that ignoring the matter would send a wrong signal to other institutions. Sardar Ashiq Gopang, a committee member, said that criminal cases should be filed against these employees. The committee was also informed that the national exchequer had suffered a loss of Rs370 million in connection with the annual examination of CNG stations. According to the report presented by audit officials, the loss was incurred due to the negligence of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority.

Approval from CCI obligatory for Regulatory bodies notification

on 01/03/2017

The Lahore High Court (LHC) has suspended a notification by the federal government transferring administrative control of five regulatory bodies to their respective line ministries. LHC Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah observed that the prime minister should have sought approval from the Council of Common Interests (CCI) before issuing the notification. The government had issued the notification on Dec 19, placing the control of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) and Frequency Allocation Board (FAB) under their respective ministries. Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf secretary general Jahangir Tareen and a citizen, All Irfan, had filed identical petitions in this regard. Advocate Sheraz Zaka, the lead counsel for the petitioners, argued that under the law it was mandatory for the government to seek an approval from the CCI before transferring the control of autonomous regulatory authorities to their respective ministries. He said that in many judgements the Supreme Court had declared approval from the CCI a mandatory provision for this purpose. Advocate Zaka pointed out that on the one hand the government was involved in the production and transmission of electricity, and on the other, it wanted to assume the role of a regulator. Similarly, he said, placing the PTA and the FAB under the control of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom, the PPRA under the Ministry of Finance and Ogra under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, was a case involving conflict of interest. The lawyer requested the court to set aside the notification. A deputy attorney general argued that approval of the CCI was not necessary as the cabinet had approved the measure. In his remarks, Chief Justice Shah said that the rule of law was indispensable as the prime minister should have sought approval of the CCI before issuing the notification. He suspended the notification and asked the attorney general for Pakistan to appear at the next hearing.