Instead of appointing a permanent Managing Director (MD), the Board of Director of Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL) has bifurcated the powers of MD between two senior officials Bisharat Mirza and Tahir Shaukat, it is learnt.
According to official sources, the Petroleum Ministry had sent a summary to the Prime Minister''s (PM) office two week ago, recommending that Tahir Shaukat to be appointed as the MD of the largest oil/gas exploration and production company of the country. But due to unknown reasons the Borad of Directors on Thursday decided to give the acting charge of the MD to Tahir Shaukat and Bisharat Mirza, while issuing fresh advertisement for hiring of company''s head afresh.
Bisharat Mirza who has performed duties as acting MD OGDCL for almost two years from 2011 and 2012, is to retire on August 13, 2015, while Tahir Shaukat will retire in 2017.
"Tahir Shaukat is given the charge to look after administrative and technical issues, while Bisharat Mirza will look after the financial matters of the company. In reality the company has no head since March 31, and it will be in the same position for coming two months as selection process of a new chief will take at least two months. The government during past five years only once appointed a permanent MD, Masood Siddique, who resigned from the post in early 2013, since then the government never appointed a permanent MD of the company," sources said.
According to sources in the Petroleum Ministry, OGDCL is functioning without an MD since March 31, 2015 due to the government''s failure to appoint a new MD.
According to a senior petroleum ministry official who has also served OGDCL at senior position, the company is top oil/gas Exploration and Production Company of Pakistan, producing 1.2 million cubic feet of gas per day and nearly 44,000 barrels of crude oil per day. The OGDCL is a complex organisation and successive governments appointed people having political affiliation on a non-technical basis, which created a sense of deprivation among the OGDCL employees.
"A few months ago the government finalised the name of Imran Abbasi, who is associated with a Malaysia-based oil/gas company in Malaysia, as the MD OGDCL, but he did not join the company. An outsider takes 6 months to 9 months to understand the organization and when he is in a position to take decisions he is forced to resign like Masood Siddique due to one reason or other. The government should promote senior officials of the company for the slot of MD as every year a number of employees after gaining necessary experience leave for lucrative salaries and better opportunities," the official added.
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