In June 2009, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) furnished to the Justice Bhagwandas Commission a report on alleged wrongdoings by government functionaries and the oil industry that caused losses of over Rs83 billion in five years.
The NAB report that covered the petroleum pricing mechanism between June 2001 and June 2006 was originally submitted to the then president Gen Pervez Musharraf and prime minister Shaukat Aziz on June 13, 2006 by the then NAB chairman Lt-Gen (retd) Shahid Aziz. The report was never made public, but Gen Aziz was immediately shown the door unceremoniously.
The report observed that “It is sufficiently evident that (functionaries in the) Ministry of Petroleum in collusion with the Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC), oil industry and oil marketing companies (OMCs) have engaged themselves in corrupt practices for generating colossal undue financial gains for refineries and OMCs at the cost of public and economy as a whole”.
Fuel prices
December 21, 2020
This is to point out the inefficient performance by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) in regulating oil and gas prices in Pakistan. Previously, fuel prices used to be pretty stable, but now it has become the fashion to update fuel prices almost every other month. Between September 7 and October 26, petrol prices were Rs104 per litre; between November 2 and November 16, the prices went down to Rs102.3 per litre; and between November 23 and December 14, the prices went further down to Rs100.7 per litre. These fluctuating fuel prices are a proof that Ogra has completely failed to manage any long-term fuel supply contract with producers or suppliers to ensure stable fuel prices. It is evident that this organisation is not adhering to its stated mission statement where it says that it will to safeguard public interests. At present, the organisation is just reacting to fluctuating international oil prices. Our authorities should take lessons from
Pakistan petrol crisis: Inquiry commission termed controversial
Pakistan
Mon, Dec 21, 2020
ISLAMABAD: The Petroleum Division is unhappy with inquiry commission investigating Pakistan’s petrol crisis. They have called the commission controversial .
In a response to last week s report by the inquiry commission, the petroleum division expressed its dissatisfaction over the commission s members.
The inquiry commission s report on the petrol crisis
The five-member Inquiry Commission, headed by FIA Additional Director-General Abubakar Khudabaksh, has recommended strict action against the Petroleum Division secretary, Oil DG, Ogra and private oil marketing companies (OMCs).
The commission’s report also asked for dissolution of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) for six months through an act of Parliament, arguing it is not aligned with ground realities.
Petrol crisis probe
December 19, 2020
The inquiry commission set up to investigate the petroleum crisis of June this year has recommended that the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) be dissolved. Other recommendations include departmental proceedings against top officials of the Petroleum Division and halting the operations of petroleum company Byco. The commission s report estimated that oil worth over Rs250 billion is smuggled in from Iran and that several operations in the oil sector were going on illegally, with no monitoring from the so-called regulator.
Ogra s performance was so bad that the commission actually went beyond its mandate and argued for an audit of all regulatory bodies for all sectors. At this point, we don t even need to go into the details of the report. How bad does an institution have to be that its poor performance leads investigators to look into anyone and anything remotely resembling it?
Govt to grant LNG terminals’ capacity to private sector
Business
December 18, 2020
ISLAMABAD: In a major move to gradually deregulate gas tariffs, the state-run liquefied natural gas (LNG) importer on Thursday expressed intention to grant capacity to the private sector – a decision that had so far been pending due to acquisition of surplus capacity of LNG terminals by the government.
A representative of Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL) said they could not award any capacity due to the public sector’s high gas demand.
The government will re-advertise the granting of capacity to the private sector in February or March 2021, the official said during a public hearing at the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra).