The Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC) held a meeting with Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) here on Saturday regarding demand, production, supply and storage of fuel oil.
Accompanied by federal secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Muhammad Abdullah Yousaf, additional secretary of the Ministry, chairman OCAC, managing director National Refinery Limited, managing director Pak Arab Refinery Company, chief executive officer Total PARCO Pakistan Limited, managing director Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd and secretary general OCAC, were present on the occasion.
From the Wapda side, Chairman Tariq Hamid, Member (Finance) Javed Nizam, Member (Power) Habibullah Khan, Member (Water) Muhammad Amin and other high-ups concerned participated.
The secretary petroleum said on the occasion that the aim of such meeting was to understand each other's viewpoint and create better communication between the two sides for achieving positive results, as Wapda was the major consumer of oil and gas sector in the country.
He added that the best efforts were being made to provide the maximum oil and gas quota to the Authority to meet its requirements for thermal power generation.
The Wapda chief apprised the OCAC that in addition to other measures to further bring down electricity rates, efforts were under way to utilise the maximum natural gas in Wapda's thermal power stations. However, he said, the Wapda would continue the use of furnace oil for electricity generation in some thermal plants to meet the gas shortages.
He added that under a phased programme, work was in progress to revamp software facilities, hardware and communication network at all Wapda installations to improve the efficiency.
He appreciated the OCAC presentation and reciprocated that it would help in addressing the issues regarding oil and gas fuels required by Wapda for running of its thermal plants.
Both the sides agreed upon to continue holding such intermittent meetings in the mutual interest.