Cabinet approves restoration of 11 cancelled petroleum licences

ISLAMABAD:

The federal cabinet has approved the restoration of 11 cancelled petroleum exploration licences on the recommendation of the Petroleum Division.

The cabinet met under the chairmanship of Premier Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday.
During the meeting, the Ministry of Planning presented a report related to the biblical floods in Pakistan during the current year.

The Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) was conducted by the planning ministry in collaboration with the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Union, the United Nations, all provincial governments, governments of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, civil society, academia and the NGOs.

Under this assessment, the damages caused by floods in 94 districts, especially to 17 major sectors of economy, including health, agriculture, industry, infrastructure and communication were evaluated.

The meeting was informed that according to the report, Sindh had suffered the most from the floods and that the agriculture sector in the country was badly affected due to the torrential rains.

The cabinet sanctioned the restoration of 11 cancelled petroleum exploration licences on the recommendation of the Petroleum Division which would lead to the revival of exploration activities in 11 blocks.