Senate body for intensifying oil & gas exploratory activities
By Asghar Ali Mubarak

ISLAMABAD—The present growth momentum in the economy cannot be sustained without continuous and reliable supply of energy principally oil and gas, therefore, strenuous efforts be made to enhance and expand the scope of exploratory activities for ensuring energy security in the country.
This was observed in the Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources, which met at Parliament House on Monday under the Chairmanship of Senator Syed Dialwar Abbas. ‘Energy is key to development’, maintained the Committee. It strongly recommended that apart from stepping up the conventional exploratory activities, the country should diversify its sources and go aggressively after acquiring LNG to improve the present situation particularly by greater imports as is being done by some other countries of the world. In this connection the Committee lauded the ‘Mashal LNG Project’ being pursued by the Government, terming it as a useful one, which ought to be strengthened.
The Committee also commended the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) Gas Pipeline Project and called upon the Government to make sure that it must be implemented within the stipulated time-frame as the supply-demand situation would worsen further in the coming years. The country witnessed unprecedented gas load-shedding and management in winter this year not only for the industrial but also for domestic consumers. The members of the Committee said that better load management and more meticulous planning is needed to improve the supply situation during the winter season as the common perception being that poor people are made to bear the brunt of severe winter due to the inefficiency and lack of proper planning.
Earlier, the Secretary Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources informed the Committee that Pakistan has already initiated IPI Project and formal agreement is expected to be signed between Pakistan and Iran in March this year and the supply is expected to begin in September 2012. He said that technical details are being worked out with Iran. By virtue of this agreement, Iran would supply 2.10 billion cubic feet of natural gas to Pakistan on daily basis, for a period of 25 years with delivery point pressure of 798 PSI. The Senate body directed the Ministry of Petroleum to complete its homework and particularly to intensify efforts for land acquisition, which appears to be a contentious issue and contours and alignments be marked to complete the gigantic project on time. The Committee also directed the SNGPL and SSGPL to cut their line losses / pilferage of gas, which presently stands at 3%. It observed that this ratio is very high as compared to the international standards.
Senator Muhammad Ismail Buledi had drawn the attention of the Chairman that the province of Balochistan is not being given its due share in the senior-grade employees of PPL and SNGPL, which is giving rise to heart-burning of the local people. However, the management clarified that appointments at senior level be made strictly on merit and as such there is no quota. Earlier, the MD, PPL briefed the Committee about the province and grade wise breakup of the company employees and company’s present / future exploration, drilling and production activities. And MD, SSGPL and MD, SNGPL about the present availability of gas and future planning of the Companies to supply gas in their coverage area including allocation of gas to Industries, Commercial & Domestic consumers.
The meeting was attended, among others, by Senators Mir Muhammad Naseer Mengal, Haroon Khan, Saeed Ahmad Hashmi, Mrs. Rukhsana Zuberi, Dr. Muhammad Ismail Buledi, Shahid Hassan Bugti, Mir Mohabat Khan Marri and Muhammad Talha Mahmood besides senior officials of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Resources and MDs of SSGPL, SNGPL and PPL.