Changing leadership: Chiefs of four public sector oil and gas firms appointed

Post for OGDC’s MD to be re-advertised to find a suitable candidate.

ISLAMABAD: The Government of Pakistan has appointed new managing directors (MDs) of four public sector oil and gas companies.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Tuesday accorded approval to appoint new heads of Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL), Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) and Government Holding Private Limited (GHPL).

The board of directors of Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) has also approved the appointment of Aftab Hussain as the new MD of the refinery. Aftab is currently working as the PRL’s deputy managing director and will take charge as the new chief on October 1.

However, the government has decided to re-advertise the post of MD of the country’s largest oil and gas explorer Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) after the interview committee could not find a suitable candidate to fill the post.

Similarly, sources said that the interview for Pakistan State Oil (PSO) MD that was scheduled on September 26 had been postponed after no suitable candidate was found. Sources also said that the government was expected to re-advertise the post for the MD, a claim that Minister of Petroleum Dr Asim Hussain has firmly declined.

Secretary Petroleum Ijaz Chaudhry told The Express Tribune that Azeem Iqbal Siddiqui was appointed as the new SSGC MD, Arif Hameed as the SNGPL MD, Asim Murtaza Khan as the MD of PPL and Irfan Nasar as the MD of GHPL.

He said that appointments were made through press advertisements after conducting interviews on open merit.

The MDs of SNGPL, SSGC and PPL were earlier given acting charge of the companies after government sacked the heads of these companies under the restructuring plan.

The interview committee headed by Hussain had recommended appointment of these candidates after a second round of interviews. The Ministry of Petroleum had moved a summary to the prime minister for the final approval of the new heads following recommendations of the committee.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th,  2011.