OGDCL shares` sale

SUCCESSIVE floatation of OGDCL`s shares in the past decade or so has left it with 75pc holding of which 10pc is again being floated `in the shortest possible time` as okayed by the cabinet committee.
As though we all have short memory or are preoccupied by sit-ins, Merrill Lynch International and Citigroup are back again for some lucrative business.The PPP government`s dole-out of the Qadipur gas field had been stalled by the OGDCL labour union`s strong protests in 2008. As former managing director of the OGDCL, I had exposed the ill-intended sale in my letter `Qadirpur gas field sellout` (Oct 21, 2008).That helped raise the matter in the Senate and the National Assembly.

Lest we forget, Shaukat Aziz quietly gave on a platter 20pc government shares in the Badin oilfield to the operator, BP, for a paltry $73m, which was less than the annual oil import substitute from that holding. The government now expects to get about $800m by floating 10pc shares of OGDCL. Isn`t it mind-boggling that by not floating these shares, OGDCL`s 10pc revenue would equal that much amount in just over three years anyway? The same would be applicable to the sale of the government`s shares in the PPL and Mari Gas. OGDCL employees should not be left alone to stop the PML-N`s bid to sell out these shares to perhaps the same infamous beneficiaries of the 1990s and 2000s.

The matter of floatation of all these shares must be raised in both the Senate and the National Assembly.If we are sincere about turning our energy security dream into reality, we simply can`t afford to part with our strategic petroleum assets.In fact, we must acquire more of them, both at home and abroad, like the Indians and citizens of other regional countries do. Besides, we must seriously address all other Pakistan-specific energy security dictates, which include rationalisation of our institutional, regulatory and structural framework, formulation of energy policy in the best national interests, correction of energy mix for power generation, establishment of world-class institutes and research centres in diverse fields of energy, development of strategic stocks of crude oil to keep the wheel rolling, acquisition/ indigenisation of technology for exploration and production at affordable prices, and, of course, eradication of corrupt practices like this sellout.

Maj-Gen (r) Parvez Akmal

Islamabad