Three major Chinese oil and gas service companies have refused to sign new contracts for seismic surveys and supply of rigs in Pakistan, said a recent report in the Business Recorder.
Chinese companies SPA, Great Wall and BGP are said to be reluctant to operate any more in Pakistan because of their growing sense of insecurity in the wake of recent brutal killings of three Chinese workers near Peshawar and then a bomb attack on Chinese engineers at Hub near Karachi.
The Chinese engineers and workers at some other projects have also been the targets of violence and kidnapping, but the latest incidents are said to be the tipping point in their determination to give up work in Pakistan. Since the Chinese' share of work in exploration and production in the oil and gas sector is the largest, their absence is bound to have serious consequences for energy situation of Pakistan.
Last month, two other foreign and three local companies working in the NWFP had stopped exploration, protesting about the lack of security available to them. Hungarian MOL and Schlamburger and Pakistani companies, namely, Sui Northern Gas Pipeline, Oil and Gas Development Corporation and Pakistan Petroleum Limited, working in Karak and Gurgani areas, came under pressure from the local elements demanding supply of gas and jobs on the site.
Only yesterday, the field staff of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission lost their vehicles and two men to kidnappers in southern Punjab. The above-mentioned incidents are just a few of the many that have taken place in the recent past, seriously undermining the prospects of foreign investment and expertise in outdoor projects, particularly in oil and gas, water resources development and road-building.
Of course, as the Business Recorder report says, the government is concerned about the growing threat of insecurity to the foreign workers and experts. It has made arrangements for their security, and in the case of the Chinese has offered Beijing to set up a joint working group which should provide the fail-safe security system.
The provision of housing on the site is also being considered, said the report. But these plans and ideas have yet to mature into concrete action, leaving the foreigners in a state of fear and insecurity. No doubt the prevalent situation in the country is abnormal, but it was not like this some time before. Oil and gas exploration and production was a risky affair, of course.
Some highly potential fields in Balochistan have not been drilled because of local resistance or other threats from miscreants. And, then there was the example of Sui gasfield where the government of the day had agreed to pay under the counter payoffs to buy protection, and doled out jobs as well.
There could be many reasons for adopting varying tactics to ensure smooth running of facilities out in the wild, but certainly there was never one definite policy with respect to the security of these facilities and sites. The latest developments like the Chinese companies' refusal to undertake more work in the oil and gas field of Pakistan certainly brings the issue of security under shaper focus.
There is an urgent need to improve the law and order situation in this highly important area of economic activity with seriousness and promptness deserves. One may ask: If we have rangers to protect borders and ASF to protect civil aviation installations why not a special force to secure oil and gas facilities?
Comments
Comments are closed.