Pakistan Oil Fields Limited (POL), a private joint venture partner in Kohat’s Razgir field, opposed a proposed gas sale agreement between a Hungarian gas company and a privately-owned firm.
The objections were raised in a letter sent to the petroleum division and other companies in the joint venture by private partner POL, which is a 25 percent shareholder in the Kohat gas field.
State-owned enterprises (SOEs) own 65% of the gas field.
The Rawalpindi-based POL said in its letter that the Hungarian company, which has 10 percent shares in the said gas field, cannot unilaterally enter into a gas sale agreement without competitive bidding, otherwise, its transaction will be cancelled. There is a lack of transparency in the process. , sources said Geo News.
He added that the foreign firm is the operator of the gas field while its joint venture partners include POL, Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) and Government Holdings ( Pvt.) Ltd. (GHPL).
It was learned that the operator was contracted to sell 35 million cubic feet of gas per day to a privately-owned gas firm from one of the JV partners – POL – a subsidiary of a UK-based oil company.
It also emerged that the Hungarian company was already under contract to sell 14 million cubic feet of gas from its Mamikhel field to the same private firm without completing the bidding process.
The private firm was procuring gas to its private clients in Punjab for which it uses the distribution network of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL).
“Merely signing a contract with a company will also violate Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) regulations,” said experts closely monitoring gas-related contracts in the country.
He also called for an investigation into previous contracts between Hungary and private gas firms.
He added that the Hungarian firm, despite being the operator, is not at liberty to enter into agreements with any other firm for the sale of resources from the government-shared Razir gas field. “Such contracts would have no legal status without a bidding process,” experts said.