17 oil explorers renege on work commitment

No action was taken against any official, committee told

ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee on Wednesday was left in a state of disbelief when it was informed that as many as 17 Exploration and Production [E&P] companies obtained licences for exploration in 40 blocks, during the previous government, but did nothing to honour the agreement in over a decade.

Energy crisis was one of the major issues faced by the previous Pakistan Peoples Party government during its tenure.



The committee was informed that despite being given licences nothing was done for over a decade. Moreover, the ministry failed to take action against its officials for the negligence till date.



Secretary Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources Arshad Mirza told the committee that a number of companies had gone to court and obtained stay orders.

“How could a judge grant a stay order for not working for 19 years,” questioned PAC chairman Syed Khursheed Shah, adding that it could only happen if the judge was ignorant or the lawyers incompetent to plead the case.



Shah directed all the ministries to submit a list of their respective cases pending before the courts. In addition, he directed for a special meeting with the secretaries finance and law, auditor general and attorney general to find a way out of litigation.

The PAC chairman also directed the ministry to fix responsibility for negligence and report in 30 days. The committee discussed audit reports of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources for the year 2013-14.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18^th, 2016.