Closing the doors: Govt seals office before OGRA chairman’s return
Move comes a day after court set aside the order that had sent Khan on forced leave.
Some officials hold the Ministry of Finance responsible for the petrol crisis, saying the ministry had refused to release funds to help PSO restore the letters of credit opened for oil imports. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
In defiance of the court’s orders, the government on Wednesday sealed the office of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) chairman to stop him from resuming work.
Saeed Khan, Ogra Chairman, was due to return to office after the Islamabad High Court on Tuesday set aside the government’s order that had sent him on three-month forced leave.
According to officials familiar with the development, the government was using all means to prevent Khan from rejoining the regulator and the sealing of the chairman’s office by the administration department of Ogra was part of that move.
However, they pointed out that the government could face contempt of court proceedings if it stopped the chairman from returning to the top post at the regulator.
Before sending Khan on forced leave, some top officials in the government had asked him to resign but he refused, arguing he had played no role in the petrol shortage that rocked Lahore and other cities of Punjab in early January.
They even warned Khan that he would meet the same fate that the former chairman of National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) suffered.
In the meantime, the government tasked Finance Secretary Dr Waqar Masood with investigating the petrol crisis, which made top officials of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources and Ogra chairman scapegoats.
Petroleum secretary, the head of oil marketing giant Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and some other top officials of the petroleum ministry were suspended following the petrol scarcity. Later, Ogra chief was sent on forced leave for three months.
Some officials hold the Ministry of Finance responsible for the petrol crisis, saying the ministry had refused to release funds to help PSO restore the letters of credit opened for oil imports despite repeated requests.
The delay in provision of funds was apparently the result of the finance ministry’s commitment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it would take the country’s foreign exchange reserves to a significant level by the end of December 2014.
The ministry, however, approved the release of Rs40 billion to bail out PSO after several officials including the PSO head and petroleum secretary were suspended.
A top PSO official said he had been warning the director general oil every day about the current furnace oil supplies and the problems being encountered in achieving the targets.
He said Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) had faced difficulties in arranging vessels on time in January as a vessel arrived with a delay of six days and another after a delay of 15 days. That disturbed the planning cycle as the arrival of 100,000 tons of motor gasoline was delayed.
PSO had started running into financial trouble in October 2014 and repeatedly defaulted on local and international payments for oil purchase. According to the official, he had been constantly giving warning signals to the petroleum ministry that if the issue of finances was not addressed, severe shortages of black and white oil will emerge.
PSO holds only 46% of the premier motor gasoline (PMG) market and the remaining share is held by other oil marketing companies.
Private companies failed to keep required stocks and were depending on local refineries for two reasons. First, they were reducing their inventory to avert huge losses on account of the plunge in the global crude market and second, they did not have sufficient storage to cope with the situation arising out of a breakdown in the supply chain.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 19th, 2015.
In defiance of the court’s orders, the government on Wednesday sealed the office of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) chairman to stop him from resuming work.
Saeed Khan, Ogra Chairman, was due to return to office after the Islamabad High Court on Tuesday set aside the government’s order that had sent him on three-month forced leave.
According to officials familiar with the development, the government was using all means to prevent Khan from rejoining the regulator and the sealing of the chairman’s office by the administration department of Ogra was part of that move.
However, they pointed out that the government could face contempt of court proceedings if it stopped the chairman from returning to the top post at the regulator.
Before sending Khan on forced leave, some top officials in the government had asked him to resign but he refused, arguing he had played no role in the petrol shortage that rocked Lahore and other cities of Punjab in early January.
They even warned Khan that he would meet the same fate that the former chairman of National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) suffered.
In the meantime, the government tasked Finance Secretary Dr Waqar Masood with investigating the petrol crisis, which made top officials of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources and Ogra chairman scapegoats.
Petroleum secretary, the head of oil marketing giant Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and some other top officials of the petroleum ministry were suspended following the petrol scarcity. Later, Ogra chief was sent on forced leave for three months.
Some officials hold the Ministry of Finance responsible for the petrol crisis, saying the ministry had refused to release funds to help PSO restore the letters of credit opened for oil imports despite repeated requests.
The delay in provision of funds was apparently the result of the finance ministry’s commitment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it would take the country’s foreign exchange reserves to a significant level by the end of December 2014.
The ministry, however, approved the release of Rs40 billion to bail out PSO after several officials including the PSO head and petroleum secretary were suspended.
A top PSO official said he had been warning the director general oil every day about the current furnace oil supplies and the problems being encountered in achieving the targets.
He said Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) had faced difficulties in arranging vessels on time in January as a vessel arrived with a delay of six days and another after a delay of 15 days. That disturbed the planning cycle as the arrival of 100,000 tons of motor gasoline was delayed.
PSO had started running into financial trouble in October 2014 and repeatedly defaulted on local and international payments for oil purchase. According to the official, he had been constantly giving warning signals to the petroleum ministry that if the issue of finances was not addressed, severe shortages of black and white oil will emerge.
PSO holds only 46% of the premier motor gasoline (PMG) market and the remaining share is held by other oil marketing companies.
Private companies failed to keep required stocks and were depending on local refineries for two reasons. First, they were reducing their inventory to avert huge losses on account of the plunge in the global crude market and second, they did not have sufficient storage to cope with the situation arising out of a breakdown in the supply chain.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 19th, 2015.