The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet is all set to approve two amendments to the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Rules, 2013 aimed at facilitating upstream petroleum sector. Sharing the details, sources in Petroleum Division told Business Recorder that in line with the overall agenda of the government to foster ease of doing business, the ECC of the Cabinet on November 27, 2019 approved various amendments to Pakistan Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Rules, 2013.
In parallel, a summary for the Council of Common Interests (CCI) was processed for certain amendments to Pakistan Petroleum Exploration and Production Policy 2012, which was approved by the CCI on December 23, 2019.
The amendment to the policy include the following two aspects, which were not part of the changes in the rules as approved by the ECC; (i) extension in an exploration licence's period beyond two years to be approved by the ECC instead of Minister in-Charge of Petroleum Division as per the ECC's approval; and (ii) creation of a new zone-1(F) for onshore licensing regime and consequent revision in the zonal map.
While notifying the amendments to the rules as approved by the ECC, the two amendments approved by the CCI have also been incorporated in the rules and notified in the official gazette on January 14, 2020 after formal vetting by the Law Division.
As the Regulations of Mines and Oilfields and Mineral Development (Government Control) Act, 1948 empowers the federal government to make rules for regulation of the petroleum sector, the inclusion of above two aspects in the rules needs to be formally approved by the ECC to complete the procedural requirements.
According to the Petroleum Division, Supreme Court's judgment in civil appeals No 1428 to 1436 of 2016 of M/s Mustafa Impex, Karachi and other verses Government of Pakistan, the federal government has been defined as a collective entity i.e. the Cabinet constituting the prime minister and federal ministers. Hence, the cabinet is the final forum for approving the rules.
Petroleum Division further stated that as the comments of relevant of stakeholders were already obtained at the time of submission of the summary of the CCI, no further consultation is considered necessary.
The ECC will also consider a proposal of Ministry of National Food Security and Research to enhance wheat support price of Rs 1,365 per 40-kg, revised budget of National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) and SAR 22.5 million equity investment abroad by Eastern Products (Pvt) Pakistan.
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