The monitoring and implementation committee of the Public Accounts Committee was informed on Tuesday that the total circular debt of Oil and Gas Development Corporation Limited (OGDCL) had risen to Rs 344 billion, while Pakistan State Oil (PSO) was indebted by an amount of Rs 160 billion.
The committee, which met here with Yasmeen Rehman in the chair to look into the progress made by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources on the directions issued by the PAC, was told by the OGDCL chief financial officer that the corporation had Rs 130 billion in receivables from various departments and the amount would be hopefully recovered soon. He said per routine, advance payments of up to 10 percent to 20 percent were made to reputed suppliers, however, no advance payment was made to foreign companies in cash, as it was made through LCs.
The OGRA chairman informed the committee that prices of petroleum products were likely to be increased on May 1, and a summary in this regard was being prepared for forwarding to the quarters concerned. He said that 32 percent of total gas production was being consumed by WAPDA for power generation, but the authority was still demanding doubling the supply of the gas.
The chairman said the contract for route identification of Pak-Iran gas pipeline project had been jointly awarded to NESPAK and German ILF Company, and they would complete the preliminary work by December 31, 2014.
