Appointments: After long delay, govt names heads of oil, gas firms

Managing directors of OGDC, PPL, PSO and PMDC appointed

ISLAMABAD: The government has finally appointed heads of the country’s largest oil and gas explorers – Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL).

Managing directors of Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC) and Pakistan State Oil (PSO) have also been named.

According to officials, the new OGDC chief is said to be close to Zahid Muzaffar, the adviser to prime minister on petroleum and natural resources.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources has issued notifications announcing the appointments on the senior positions of OGDC, PPL and PMDC.

Officials said Imran Abbasy has been made managing director of OGDC and Syed W Bokhari has been appointed managing director of PPL. Brigadier (Retired) Sajjad Khokar will work as managing director of PMDC and Shahid Islam will serve as acting managing director of PSO for three months.

It was learnt that Imran Abbasy, MD OGDC, is 58 years old and has a mechanical engineering degree from Syracuse University and a masters in aerospace engineering from George Washington University. He has also worked in the Middle East and Australia. Recently, he was working with Santos Oil Indonesia as the production technology head.

The top slots in these state-owned entities have been lying vacant for a long time and the government did not pay heed to calls for filling the critical slots in the petroleum sector.

However, after heavy criticism in the media and other forums, the government finally came into action and made the appointments on the important posts.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 1^st, 2015.

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