The government is faced with a new resistance from the provinces, which are demanding a 50 percent share in the profit of any new discovery made by any oil and gas exploration and production company within their jurisdiction.
An official source said the Petroleum Ministry was trying to clarify the situation to the provinces as they were wrongly interpreting the ownership clause. They will be getting 50 percent of the proceeds made by the federal government in the award of petroleum concessions and subsequent revenues. Under the 18th Amendment, a new clause, 172 (3), was introduced in the constitution whereby mineral oil and natural gas within any province or its territorial waters have been vested jointly and equally with that province and the federal government.
This means the federal government alone can neither formulate any policy nor take any decision without the consent of the provincial government concerned. The provinces were wrongly interpreting that they would be getting 50 percent of the profit if discovery of oil and gas was made within their jurisdiction, the official source said. The government, he said, was trying to address the concerns of the foreign exploration and production companies and all their contractual obligations would be protected in accordance with the law.
He said the new petroleum policy would be considered by the ECC in the next meeting and its implementation would address all the issues. He said around 70 petroleum concessions agreements needed to be converted from the 2007 policy, which were never converted to the 2009 policy even though the companies had filed applications. After the announcement of the new petroleum policy, the previous exploration licences needed to be converted to the new policy. The government planned to auction 19 oil and gas exploration blocks after the implementation of the new petroleum policy, he added.
The new petroleum policy proposes increasing the price for onshore discoveries from $4.5 per mmBTU to $6 per mmBTU. The policy seeks revision in the gas price for the offshore discoveries from $5 per mmBTU to $8 per mmBTU. It also recommends a premium of $2 per mmBTU to the first three offshore discoveries. Energy demand in Pakistan is projected to grow with a phenomenal increase of 245 percent to 147 MTOE by 2022 as compared to 2008. Natural gas, being the largest component of energy supply, is also projected to decline from the existing 4.2 bcfd to 1.6 Bcfd in 2022, giving rise to a deficit of 7 bcfd.
This is about the photographs of miners pulling the dead body of a colleague out of the mine. A picture speaks a thousand words. In this case it raises many questions.
Bowed heads and sunken eyes; these are the people who need to be empowered. These are the very people who ere exploited by the political leaders. “Mang raha hay her insane rootee kapra aur makan”.
What has the Chief Minister of Baluchistan done about it? Has he visited the relatives? Has he set up an enquiry so that lessons could be learnt to avoid such a tragic incident happening again? Has the PM taking any note of it?
I don’t think any of this has been done which is very sad, to say the least.
October 2010 Chilean Mining disaster brought the nation together and top executive of the country were present to save 33 trapped miners.
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-10-12/news/2…
Those who hold the key positions need to wipe the tears and see to it that the families left behind are well looked after.
Worst still the news has not recived a single comment. Where are Anon, Harlene and Mojjo25!
i am here. i share your feelings and respect your thoughts.
if you believe me: i saw the picture and my heart bled. i didn't know, and still don't know, what to say. There are so many of them — and so many… And we ourselves hardly ever do anything (real) for them.
It's very assuring to note the presence of people like you, who cares.
God bless your heart…
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