Page 6 - AsianOil Week 50 2020

AsianOil SOUTH ASIA AsianOil

Omar Ayub Khan warned that a serious winter the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA)
gas shortage was expected owing to a shortfall to be dissolved.
between supply and demand. The commission identified oil smuggling in
He said Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd excess of PKR250bn, while noting that a wide
(SNGPL) would experience a 370mn cubic feet range of oil sector operators had flouted the law.
per day shortfall, while Sui Southern Gas Co. The inquiry called for refinery and OMC Byco’s
(SSGC) had already started to face shortages operations to be suspended.
which would peak at 250 mmcf when temper- The vice-president of Pakistan Muslim
atures hit their lowest point. League-Nawaz (PML-N), Maryam Nawaz, crit-
The common refrain when discussing supply icised the “incompetence, poor decision-making
shortfalls among Asia’s oil and gas producers has and corrupt practices” of Prime Minister Imran
been to lament a stifling upstream regulatory Khan’s government.
environment. The situation in Pakistan is no dif- Khan’s government has been beset with trou-
ferent, but is further complicated by corruption bles this year, ranging from criticism of han-
challenges. dling of the COVID-19 crisis to allegations that
Transparency International ranked Pakistan the military has undue influence over political
120 out of 180 reviewed countries in its 2019 decision making. As such, it is unsurprising that
Corruption Perceptions Index. Hardly a month Islamabad has hardly been overly focused on
can pass without new allegations of political resolving investor discontent in the upstream.
corruption springing up, with the energy sector The problem is that without some fairly radi-
frequently caught up in the fallout. cal reforms – of both the upstream and anti-cor-
ruption practices – the country will struggle to
What next attract much-needed FDI in challenging plays.
The government lashed out at the country’s oil The onshore has failed to prove itself in general,
marketing companies (OMCs) in early June, with shale gas development having also been
alleging that a national gasoline shortage had abandoned, leaving deepwater developments as
been orchestrated. An investigation into the fuel the only viable prospect to turn around disap-
crisis sought to bring criminal charges against pointing production performance.
the heads of Hascol Petroleum and Gas and Oil Eni and its partners gambled $100mn on a
Pakistan over allegations of fuel hoarding. deepwater well early last year that turned out to be
However, an inquiry into the oil crisis has dry. Not only is the commercial case for a similar
reportedly slammed the government for its poor endeavour extremely weak – given the current oil
handling of the sector as a whole. Local daily and gas price environment – but major developers
Dawn said the 15-member commission recom- have begun shifting their portfolios towards leaner
mended departmental proceedings against the upstream operations complemented by expanded
Petroleum Division’s leadership while calling for green energy investments.™

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 50 17•December•2020