Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) will become dysfunctional on July 17 with the completion of the tenure of its chairperson, Uzma Adil.
OGRA’s Member Oil, Dr. Abdullah Malik, had already completed his tenure on May 17, meaning that the quorum of OGRA will be rendered incomplete on July 17.
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What this means is that OGRA will only perform day-to-day actions and the regulatory functions such as deciding tariffs of oil and gas products and issuance of licenses will not be dispensed from July 17 onwards.
Uzma, a professional Chartered Accountant, had joined OGRA as the first female chairperson on July 18, 2016. She had been serving as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in Sui Northern before joining OGRA.
During her tenure, Uzma has achieved some important milestones such as the successful implementation of Oil Rules 2016 despite the incessant pressure from the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).
Uzma was central in increasing the overall storage capacity of petrol by 30 days and of diesel by 50 to 70 days.
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Moreover, Uzma compelled OMCs aiming to acquire marketing licenses to build fuel storage in line with international standards before applying for the licenses.
She has also been facing NAB investigation over her appointment as OGRA’s Chairperson, which the NAB claims as unlawful, and the approval of LNG contract. Uzma has pleaded innocence in her testimony in the Accountability Court, claiming that the LNG contract had already been consummated before she joined OGRA.
The federal government has constituted a 5 member committee, headed by Mirza Shahzad Akbar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Accountability, to finalize the names of new Chairperson OGRA and Member Oil.
Other members on the committee include Secretary Cabinet Division, Chairman of PSO board of directors (BoD) Zafar Usman, Director of the BoD of PARCO Aftab Hussain, and Ex MD OGDCL Najamul Kamal Hyder.
