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Business Recorder
24-05-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Energy, minerals: Pakistan, Turkiye explore collaboration opportunities
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Petroleum Ali Pervaiz Malik held a meeting with Irfan Neziroglu, ambassador of Türkiye to Pakistan, on Friday. The discussions centered enhancing bilateral cooperation in the energy sector, including offshore and onshore exploration, as well as collaboration in critical minerals. During the meeting, Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik expressed profound gratitude for Türkiye's unwavering support to Pakistan during the India-Pakistan. The minister highlighted the immense potential for expanding cooperation in the petroleum and mineral sectors, noting that both countries could benefit from joint ventures, technology transfer, and investment opportunities. He reiterated Pakistan's commitment to fostering a robust partnership with Türkiye in energy and resource development. Turkiye's state owned company Turkish Petroleum Corporation has been provisionally awarded two onshore blocks in the recent bidding round on May 13,2025. One of the awarded blocks is located in Balochistan — Ziarat North, where the JV partners are MariEnergies (33.16 per cent, operator), OGDCL (24.87 per cent), PPL (24.87 per cent), TPOC (10 per cent), and Government Holdings Private Limited (GHPL) (7.10 per cent). The other successful bid is for the Sukhpur-II block in Sindh, with the following JV structure: Prime (25 per cent, operator), OGDCL (30 per cent), Mari Energies (30 per cent), and TPOC (15 per cent). Moreover, Turkish Petroleum has also executed a Joint Bidding Agreement with a consortium of Pakistan companies (Mari Energies, OGDCL, PPL) for participation in upcoming Offshore Bid Round 2025. Ambassador Neziroglu reaffirmed Türkiye's dedication to strengthening ties with Pakistan across all sectors, particularly energy and mining. He praised Pakistan's efforts in creating a conducive environment for foreign investment and expressed optimism about future collaborations that would drive mutual economic growth. Both sides agreed to expedite discussions on joint exploration projects and the critical minerals, which are vital for industrial and technological advancements. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Express Tribune
24-05-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
New onshore block awards deepen ties with Turkiye
Listen to article Federal Minister for Petroleum Ali Pervaiz Malik met with Irfan Neziroglu, Ambassador of Turkiye to Pakistan, on Friday to discuss expanding cooperation in the energy sector, including oil and gas exploration and collaboration in critical minerals. The meeting, held at the Ministry of Petroleum, also touched upon the evolving geopolitical environment and diplomatic ties between the two countries. According to an official statement, the petroleum minister conveyed appreciation for Türkiye's continued diplomatic support to Pakistan, particularly during its recent tensions with India. He said the bond between the two countries had endured over time, strengthened by shared history and strategic alignment. Malik relayed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's gratitude, stating that President Erdogan's vocal support reflects the depth of the Pakistan-Türkiye relationship. Neziroglu echoed these sentiments, describing the relationship as a "time-tested brotherhood." He praised Pakistan's handling of recent geopolitical challenges. Discussions focused on energy cooperation, with emphasis on joint ventures, technology transfer, and resource development. Malik noted that Türkiye's state-owned Turk Petrolleri Anonim Ortakligi (TPAO) had been provisionally awarded two onshore blocks in Pakistan in the latest bidding round held on May 13, 2025. One block, Ziarat North in Balochistan, includes JV partners MariEnergies (33.16%, operator), OGDCL (24.87%), PPL (24.87%), TPAO (10%), and GHPL (7.10%). The second, Sukhpur-II in Sindh, was awarded to a JV comprising Prime (25%, operator), OGDCL (30%), MariEnergies (30%), and TPAO (15%). TPAO has also signed a Joint Bidding Agreement with a consortium of Pakistani firmsMariEnergies, OGDCL, and PPLfor participation in the upcoming Offshore Bid Round 2025.
Express Tribune
24-05-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
PAC body seeks special audit of training funds
Listen to article The chairman of the sub-committee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has directed auditors to conduct a special audit of training funds amounting to millions of dollars to ascertain their alleged misuse. The sub-committee met under the chairmanship of Convener Syed Naveed Qamar at the Parliament House. The chairman lashed out at the Petroleum Division over the misuse of training funds. He said that officials spent the money on their trip to Rome with their wives while ignoring the plight of children living near oil and gas exploration fields. The issue was taken up while discussing the audit para relating to the utilisation of training funds by Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL). Auditors said that OGDCL had a training fund of $584,000 but it utilised only 5%. OGDCL Managing Director Ahmad Hayat Lak challenged the claim, saying that the company had disbursed half of the money to the DG petroleum concessions and utilised more than half of the funds on the local and external training of officials. While discussing the audit para pertaining to strategic storages, Lak said that the storages helped the company to store oil at a time when Attock Refinery had shut down. He said that those storages were even used to store oil from other fields in the country. The sub-body settled almost all audit paras relating to OGDCL. While discussing audit paras concerning Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), sub-committee Chairman Naveed Qamar questioned the unaccounted-for-gas (UFG) benchmark set by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra). He criticised the regulator for setting an unrealistic benchmark. The auditors pointed out that SSGC had consistently faced a 17% UFG, which put a burden of Rs90 billion on consumers while causing another loss of Rs129 billion over the past few years. SSGC Managing Director Amin Rajput clarified that the company had achieved a milestone by reducing the UFG in recent years, which stood at 10.56% in 2023-24 compared to 13% in the previous year. He stressed that the company had been able to curtail the UFG level despite high losses in Balochistan where several cases of meter tempering were detected. Regarding liquefied natural gas (LNG) swap, the MD said that the issue had been resolved between SSGC and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) as both companies had signed a settlement agreement. SSGC has paid SNGPL Rs20 billion whereas the remaining Rs11 billion will be released in installments.
Business Recorder
21-05-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
‘Discrepancies in OGDCL real-time data': Concerns mount about accuracy of royalty payments to provinces
ISLAMABAD: Concerns about the accuracy of royalty payments to provinces are mounting due to discrepancies in the Oil and Gas Development Limited (OGDCL)'s real-time production and sales data. This issue is exacerbated by the absence of a verification mechanism within the Petroleum Division, potentially allowing the company to benefit from unaudited data. This was revealed in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC)'s sub-committee meeting which examined the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division) Audit Report 2010 and 2013-14. Seven new exploration blocks: OGDCL secures provisional award In one case, audit identified short payment of royalty of Rs467.47 million due to difference to quantity of oil produced, saved and sold (refined product sale). Audit highlighted that there was variation in figures of raw production available with Director General (PC) Petroleum Division and figures of sales actually declared by the OGDCL for payment of royalty. Further, the DG (PC) has not record of crude oil and gas actually sold and no mechanism in place to authenticate the figures of production and sale of crude oil and gas. The PAC has directed the ministry to 'ensure the collection of royalty on value of oil and gas actually saved (refined products) as required under the law instead of on value of oil and gas sold'. The audit official pointed out huge difference between crude oil supplied and sold by OGDCL. Moreover, field production of crude oil is reported after considering the basis sediment and water drainage, so the treatment of the same at the refinery is not justifiable. The auditor observed in the audit para that DG PC did not take notice of difference between petroleum products produced and saved and sold by OGDCL. Due to this difference of 373,977 barrels OGDCL evading royalty, the government was deprived of revenue worth Rs467.47 million approximately. According to the Regulation of Mines and Oilfields and Mineral Development (Government Control) Act, 1948, read with Rule 36 of Pakistan Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Rules, 1986, holders of a lease shall pay a royalty at the rate of 12.5 percent of the wellhead value of the petroleum produced and save. OGDCL Managing Director Ahmed Hayat Lak asked the audit to read out Rule 37 and Rule 36 of Pakistan Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Rules, 1986, which provide clarification in the matter. The audit official rejected the argument of the OGDCL management which says, 'Quantity of dispatch was taken out of which certain quantities had to be deducted and reconciliation was produced. The reduction in quantity due to drainage of water losses/conversion factor requires more supporting documents for verification of facts'. Acting DG (PC) Kashif Ali explained that main difference is due to the various factors such as production is always reconciled with the receipt of refinery at temperature and transport losses. On other hand, Petroleum Division has yet to implement its concession management system which was installed in 2009. In the office of DG (PC), concession management system remained dormant and was not helpful in systematic provision of data. 'Millions of rupees were spent for development of the software but the purpose was not being served i.e. to compile the record in the systematic manner,' the audit official said. This system was devised to keep information and record updated regarding each E&P Company relating to its activities and other obligations. Secretary Petroleum Momin Agha and DG (PC) explained that they again hired the services of contractor LMKR in January 2025 to manage petroleum concession agreement, petroleum sharing agreement, license and lease deed, information relating to operator, status/payable of royalty, rent production bonus, training funds and other obligation. Audit official stated no progress on implementation has been seen in last four months following signing of the contract. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Business Recorder
15-05-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Seven new exploration blocks: OGDCL secures provisional award
ISLAMABAD: Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), the country's leading exploration and production company, has been provisionally awarded seven new exploration blocks through a competitive bidding round held by the Government of Pakistan in April 2025. The Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division) has communicated the provisional award of new exploration blocks to OGDCL and its joint venture partners, Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL), Mari Energies Limited (Mari), Government Holdings (Private) Limited (GHPL), Turkish Petroleum Overseas Company (TPOC), and Prime Global Energies Limited (Prime). These blocks have been awarded based on the work units committed by OGDCL and its joint venture partners, subject to formal execution of Exploration Licenses and Petroleum Concession Agreements (PCAs). OGDCL has secured 100 percent working interest and operatorship in the Kalat North Block located in Balochistan. The company will also operate the Naing Sharif Block in Sindh with a 70 percent working interest, partnered by Prime with a 30 percent share. In Punjab, OGDCL will act as operator of the Khiu-II Block, holding 60 percent working interest, while Mari holds the remaining 40 percent. OGDCL has also secured a 40 percent working interest in the Ahmad Wal Block in Balochistan, where Mari will serve as the operator with a 60 percent working interest. In the Kalat South Block, also in Balochistan, OGDCL secured a 30 percent share, with PPL acting as the operator with 40 percent interest and Mari holding 30 percent. In Sindh's Sukhpur-II Block, OGDCL has a 30 percent stake, alongside Prime (25pc, operator), Mari (30pc), and TPOC (15pc). In the Ziarat North block in Balochistan, OGDCL secured a 24.87 percent working interest, with Mari acting as operator with 33.16 percent, and PPL, GHPL, and TPOC holding 24.87 percent, 7.10 percent, and 10 percent respectively. These awards mark a significant step forward in OGDCL's strategy and business plan to strengthen its core exploration portfolio and accelerate efforts to augment the country's hydrocarbon reserves. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
