Senate body for probe into under-utilisation of Port Qasim’s LNG Terminal-2

ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary panel on Monday called for probing the issue of under-utilisation of the PGPCC LNG Terminal-2 at Port Qasim that has been paid $45 million idle charges in last nine months.

The Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum that met here with Senator Mohsin Aziz in the chair here on Monday called for undertaking a probe into the situation of PGPCC LNG Terminal 2 at Port Qasim Authority as to why the Power Division did not give adequate demands for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to the terminal.

The committee expressed serious concerns as to why such a huge terminal was built and wrong assumptions about demand were made which are not being made now when the terminal is operational.

The committee members took strong cognizance of the fact that the terminal was working at 54 percent of its capacity and consequently the government had paid $45 million as idle charge for under-utilisation since it became operational nine months ago.

The committee was of the view that the terms of contract should be well thought out as to not put the government at a disadvantage as the other party has taken a matter of penalties for dispute resolution and huge payments to government are pending. The committee questioned whether the plant was needed at all and has there been a mismatch in the policies of the government.

The committee also took up details of loans taken by PSO in local and foreign exchange from banks and details of pending inquiries by external agencies against PSO officials. The committee members were told that PSO has as of today receivables amounting to Rs240 billion and if the power sector makes its payments on time then PSO would not need to take loans to continue its operations. The committee recommended timely payments to PSO by the power sector.

PSO was also asked to hold an inquiry into fake lubricants being sold in the name of PSO. Expedition of inquiries and bringing them to a logical end was also recommended by the committee.

Regarding the matter of lorries carrying oil the committee noted with contribution from Ogra that any and all containers with oil and petroleum products should be given clearance to move only if they are NHA compliant, have explosives clearing certificate and are weight compliant also and if any untoward incident occurs action will be taken against the concerned oil management company.

The meeting was attended among others by senators Sardar Muhammad Azam Khan Musakhel, Lt. Gen (R) Salahuddin Tirmizi, Shamim Afridi, Taj Muhammad Afridi, Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldini, Bahramand Khan Tangi, Additional Secretary Petroleum, Chairperson Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) Uzma Adil, managing director Pakistan LNG Limited and other officials.