A sub-committee of the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has stressed the need for according preference to the Pakistanis in the recruitments of the Exploration and Production (E&P) companies operating in the oil and gas sector.
Member of the National Assembly, Syed Naveed Qamar, convened the committee meeting at the Parliament House on Friday.
Syed Hussain Tariq, a committee member, raised the issue and emphasized that the E&P companies, functioning in the remote areas of Pakistan, should hire locals. He said the companies do not hire the locals and it is an injustice to the local people.
The committee unanimously recommended that the oil and gas exploration and production companies should hire local talented people so that the fruits of prosperity could be equally distributed.
The committee also reviewed the audit objections of the Petroleum Division for the years 2010-11 to 2017-18. The audit officials briefed the committee on the non-recovery of arrears in terms of lines and leases from on-shore exploration and production companies.
Convener Naveed Qamar remarked that the problem is that the Petroleum Division’s documentation is faulty. He stressed that the documents should be ‘foolproof’.
The audit officials took a stance that the company should pay the money which has been reconciled. The committee directed the Ministry of Petroleum to reconcile the arrears with the concerned companies and get them cleared.
Committee members included Syed Hussain Tariq, Khawaja Shiraz Mahmood, and Hina Rabbani Khar also attended the meeting.