Petrol crisis probe

Incompetence was on display when the petroleum ministry banned imports of the commodity

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?

The report notes the incompetence on display when the petroleum ministry, despite oil prices being at record lows in March, banned imports of the commodity. At the same time, it also acknowledges that local oil companies should still have adhered to this terribly bad decision, as it was the law. Instead, the companies worked around it.

The ministry and Ogra also failed to enforce their respective mandates at multiple times, such as when the companies refused to buy from local refineries. Ogra was actively violating its own rules. Even the most simple duty of a regulator — inspection — was not performed. Meanwhile, illegal contracts and approvals were regularly doled out, including to alleged criminals. Other interesting findings include the fact that the incumbent DG Oil is a vet with no oil policy background. Our petroleum policy is being set — in part — by a horse doctor. Several other officers were also accused of wrongdoing and outright corruption.

Ogra is clearly not a prize pony. It is not even a lame horse, because lame horses would have been useful at some point in their lives. It is more akin to an oversized rat, ruining things for anyone interacting with it and benefitting no one. If the government agrees with the inquiry team and kills it off, we can confidently say that there will be no mourners.