The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources (MoP&NR) is considering appointing two of its senior most officers on vacant positions of Member Oil and Member Gas at the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), sources said. In a chat with media persons on Thursday, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan MoP&NR considers deputing its officers on positions at OGRA.
Abbasi said that a summary has been sent to Prime Minister and hopefully the appointments would be made in two weeks. However he declined to disclose names. Sources said that the Ministry was considering deputing its own officers which it argues would help address important oil and gas issues pending with the Authority.
OGRA is currently dysfunctional as its two key posts of Member Oil and Member Gas are vacant. The position of Member Oil has been vacant for the last two years and the government has yet to appoint any suitable candidate. However, spokesman OGRA told Business Recorder that the Islamabad High Court had stayed the process of hiring Member Oil after a candidate challenged the re-advertisement for the post.
On July 7, 2015, OGRA had issued an advertisement for the vacant position of member oil, inviting applications from aspiring candidates. While evaluating the applications, the selection board short-listed three candidates, Zainul Abdin, Mohammad Yasin and Abdullah Malik.
The same process was followed for appointing Member Gas, a position vacant since the three year contract of Amir Naseem as Member Gas expired on December 22, 2016 The regulatory agency has at present a full time chairperson and Member Finance but is considered complete only when there are at least three members. Important decisions like finalization of gas tariff can be only made if the Authority is complete.
The source said that the Petroleum Ministry had raised the issue of vacant posts and other issues in OGRA with the Prime Minister in the past but these have yet to be addressed. After handing over of the administrative control of OGRA back to the Petroleum Ministry, the Ministry is working on a number of issues to resolve them on an urgent basis.
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