The chairperson Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) on Monday informed a parliamentary panel that natural gas sales licence was issued to a gas company (Gaseous Distribution Company Pvt Ltd) after due diligence and was in line within applicable Ogra laws. National Assembly's Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources met with Chaudhry Bilal Ahmed Virk in the chair discussed the issues being raised in the agenda.
Responding to Committee Member Mian Tariq Mehmood's inquiry about a news story, Chairperson Uzma Adil Khan clarified that the licence has been issued after due diligence and was in line within applicable Ogra laws. She said that the whole licence process took almost 9 months as the company applied to Ogra in March 2016 and the licence was granted in December 2016 which clearly indicated that the licence was issued to the company after thorough process, in-house deliberations and after meeting all prerequisites like public hearing, without any urgency at all.
Responding to the Committee Member, she further explained that the licence was awarded in a single day as one of the members of Ogra Board was going to retire but it was issued after fulfilling all requisites. She said the conditional licence granted to GDC was based on the same parameters as were applicable to a similar gas marketing company in Punjab.
The committee settled the issue after the arguments of chairperson Ogra. Meanwhile, the Ogra spokesman said that M/s Gaseous Distribution Company (formerly Pak Gas Distribution Company) applied on March 30, 2016 for grant of licence to carry out the regulated activity of the sale of natural gas to the CNG stations located in Sindh province.
He said certain elements from within the organisation having ulterior motives are deliberately trying to malign the organisation and misleading some segments of the media. It is pertinent to note that the Authority has issued the licences unanimously and after detailed deliberation.
The spokesman maintained that the primary reason that the licence was granted a day after the applicant addressed the objection of M/S PSO and duly changed its name from Pak Gas Distribution Company to Gaseous Distribution Company, duly registered by SECP, without changing any other particulars of its earlier application of March 2016 and it is the fact that Member Gas Amir Naseem was retiring on December 22, 2016 after completion of his term.
The Authority being judicious and conscious of the fact that after a thorough process, fulfilling all the legal requirements the applicant is entitled to grant a conditional licence for one year which shall be effective after fulfilment of certain terms and conditions of the licence. Therefore, the authority after due process in a transparent manner issued the license as per law. Needless to say that Ogra has been dutiful in discharging its duties.
According to details, the authority has already processed cases of companies that had changed their names as another entity concern without holding public hearing. The OGRA in March 2012 gave approval of transferring the name of Engro Vopak Terminal Limited to Elengy Terminal Pakistan Limited. Again in March 2015 allowed Elengy Terminal Pakistan Limited to change the name as Engro Elengy Terminal Limited. In December 2016, the authority transferred the licence for the construction of LNG receiving terminal at Karachi of Pakistan Gas Port Limited to Pakistan Gas Port Consortium Limited.