The decision of privatisation of Qadirpur Gas Field (QGF) having gas reserves of over $12 billion will prove detrimental for the country's economy as it will deprive the country from a high value profitable asset, said Senator Talha Mehmood, Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Interior here on Tuesday.
Condemning the decision of privatisation of the QGF, Senator Talha said on Tuesday economy of the country is in crisis, which needs dedicated efforts to bail out the country from this turmoil. "Privatisation in the past had not served the country in great deal and lot of departments were sold like scrap, which resulted in raise in unemployment and poverty", Talha said while talking to reporters.
Talha said QGF is a national asset which is not only providing 550 MMSEFD gas but also 1000 barrels oil and 50 MMSEFD raw gases for power generation. He said QGF is generating daily income in billions and it is contributing to country's economy.
He said the Gas Field is contributing over 60 percent of the total revenue of the Oil and Gas Development Corporation Limited (OGDCL) and its privatisation will result in collapse of OGDCL and other related organisations and further aggravate the energy crisis.
He said that the gas reserves of the QGF are more than $5 billion as it is over 3.5 billion cubic feet reserves. At present 24 wells of this gas field are producing 550 MMSCFD gas per annum. There are expectations of 100 MMSCFD increase in gas capacity of the field by 2008 and it would be 650 MMSCFD.
He said that QGF is providing over $182.54 million annually to national exchequer in shape of $40.57 million royalty, $10.59 million Federal Excise Duty, $52.30 million Sales Tax and $79.08 million Income Tax. He said that only one layer of the gas reserves in Qadirpur is being explored so far while there are three more layers. He said that there are 690 MMSCFD gas available from this field till 2014.
He said that the QGF is a joint venture of OGDCL, KUFPEC and PkPEP and was developed in three phases and is at present producing 1000-barrel oil, 50 MMCFD raw gas to LPL for power generation besides 550 MMSCFD being given to SNGPL. He called upon the government to withdraw its decision regarding the privatisation of this gas field as it will not support country's economy.
Instead of indulging in privatisation of profit earning institutions of national importance, we have to empower the OGDCL to explore more oil and gas fields to help country at this our of energy shortage", he added. Senator Talha Mahmood hoped that government will take this matter seriously and will roll back the decision of privatisation of national asset.