PAC Seeks Prime Minister's Attention To Sui Gas Lease Extension

Member National Assembly (MNA) Noor Alam Tuesday sought Prime Minister Imran Khan's attention towards the renewal of Sui Gas field lease agreement between the federal government and provincial government of Balochistan

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Jan, 2020 ):Member National Assembly (MNA) Noor Alam Tuesday sought Prime Minister Imran Khan's attention towards the renewal of Sui Gas field lease agreement between the federal government and provincial government of Balochistan.

He was reviewing the audit report of 2017-18 pertaining to the ministry of energy (petroleum division).

The audit officials informed the committee that according to the clause 34 of the exploration and production rule 1349 the initial term of an oil mining lease shall be 30 years, but the lease shall contain a clause pertaining to renewal at the discretion of the government for a further period not exceeding 30 years.

When a lease is expired, it is the right of the government to take over the installation and facility including related equipments. At least one year prior to end of the lease, a holder of the lease shall submit to the authority a plan for the orderly closing down.

The Director General (DG) PC of petroleum division provisionally approved mining lease of Sui Gas field which was expired in May 201, however the ECC in 2016 approved extension in 2016 from the date of expiry.

Further the DG directed PPL to pay lease extension bonus of wellhead value with other obligations however after lapse of six months lease agreement could not be finalized resultantly lease extension bonus of Rs 4,048.87 million was not paid.

The management explained that negotiation with the government of Balochistan were underway for amicable settlements of the issues of payment.

The Secretary Petroleum told the committee that the matter was more of a political in nature rather administrative however both the governments were sitting across the table to resolve the issue.

The committee asked secretary to bring the issue in the knowledge of the prime minister and resolve the matter at the earliest.

On the absence of FIA officials from the meeting, Noor Alam directed to write a letter to the prime minister, speaker National Assembly, federal minster for interior and director general Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) about casual attitude of their officials.

The FIA officials enjoyed perks and salaries while sitting at home and did not give importance to Public Accounts Committee (PAC), said Noor Alam. While reviewing paras related to Sui Northern Gas Company Limited (SNGPL), the committee directed to exempt the grace period of one year to the domestic consumers who applied for a fresh Sui gas connection.

He also directed SNGPL to did not charge the rate of Rs 1600 per unit Liquefied natural gas (LNG) price to the domestic gas consumers.

The MD SNGPL said that only the new housing societies were being charged the rate of LNG however the old domestic consumers were being charged the old rates.

The committee also directed the MD Pakistan State Oil (PSO) to review the policy of cancellation of licenses of fuel stations who temper their meters and sell less fuel to the consumers.

The committee also directed all ministries and divisions to deposit recoveries with interest in case of making unnecessary delay in depositing the recoveries in the national kitty.