PM for enhancing indigenous energy resources to meet country’s power needs

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister (PM) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Saturday emphasised the need to enhance the volume of indigenous energy resources to fulfil the country’s power needs and to reduce the burden of import bill on the national economy.

Addressing the annual function of Mari Petroleum Company, the prime minister spoke highly of the company’s valuable contribution towards mitigating the energy crisis in the country, besides playing its role to ensure food security.

The annual event was attended by a large number of staffers belonging to the company and their families as the event also coincided with the golden jubilee celebrations of the company. The prime minister commended the company for closing the year on a high note.

He said that the company had always performed exceptionally, adding that he had also been pushing the OGDCL and PPL to excel in the same way. He further said that energy was a basic block of national economies, with exploration and production sector being its key components.

Lauding the company for achieving the targets ahead of the schedule, the prime minister said that owing to the efforts of Mari Petroleum, the country had not only achieved self-sufficiency in fertilizer production but had also started exporting the product.

Moreover, he said that the government had added around 10,000 megawatts of electricity to the national grid and was striving to produce electricity to meet the country’s needs for the next 15 years.

He also said that the country currently had surplus production of gas and all of the consumers were getting uninterrupted supply. He hoped that Mari Petroleum would also extend its operations in the shale and off-shore gas sectors to explore the untapped potential of the country.

He further said that the company’s efforts to provide uninterrupted gas supply to downstream customers for the last five decades was an unmatched achievement that had made Mari a model for all other operators in the country to follow.

The prime minister also distributed awards among the employees of the company who had excelled in both technical and non-technical fields.

Earlier, in his welcome speech, Mari Petroleum Managing Director Lieutenant General (r) lshfaq Nadeem Ahmad highlighted the company’s achievements.

He said that during the recently concluded financial year, the company had produced 32.32 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOEs) energy as compared with 30.48 million BOEs produced in the preceding year.

He said that the company continued its strong financial performance and the gross sales reached the highest ever level of Rs 96.78 billion from Rs 94.99 billion in the last year. Similarly, net sales, which were a true reflection of the company’s operational performance, reached an unprecedented level of Rs 28.28 billion from Rs 21.71 billion in the last year, he added.

The MPCL managing director further said that the company also contributed Rs 74.3 billion to the government exchequer in the form of royalty, taxes, levies and duties.