Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL) has raised objections to a proposed gas sales agreement without a tender process between a Hungarian gas company and a private company at the Razgir field in Kohat which owns 65% of the state-owned entities ( state enterprises). .
These objections were raised in a letter addressed to the oil division and other companies in the joint venture by private partner POL, a 25% shareholder in the Kohat gas field.
In its letter, the Rawalpindi-based POL said the Hungarian company, which holds a 10% stake in the aforementioned gas field, could not unilaterally enter into a gas sales agreement without going through a tender, otherwise it would lack transparency in the transaction process. , sources said Geo News.
They added that the foreign company is the operator of the gas field while its joint venture partners include POL, Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (OGDCL), Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (PPL) and Government Holdings (Pvt) Ltd (GHPL).
It was learned that the operator entered into an agreement to sell 35 million cubic feet of gas per day to a private gas company, which harmed one of the joint venture partners – POL – a subsidiary of a company oil company domiciled in the United Kingdom.
It also emerged that the Hungarian company was already selling 14 million cubic feet of gas to the same private company from its Mamikhel field in a deal without following the planned tender process.
The private company was acquiring gas for its private customers in Punjab, for which it uses the distribution network of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL).
“Signing a deal only with one company would also violate Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) regulations,” said experts who closely monitor gas-related deals in the country.
They also demanded an investigation into previous agreements signed between Hungarian and private gas companies.
They added that the Hungarian company does not have the freedom to enter into agreements with a single company to sell the resources of the Razgir gas field, in partnership with the government, although it is an operator. “Such agreements would not have legal status without a tender process,” the experts said.