Rs 142 bn crude oil stolen from Karak, NA body told

ISLAMABAD: A stunning revelation was made in the National Assembly Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources on Tuesday that over the last two and a half years, Rs 142 billion crude oil theft has taken place in the Karak District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but, unfortunately, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Ministry of Petroleum have not noted the fact.

Interestingly, this theft is still taking place from the joint pipeline of the NASHPA oilfield and Makori Central Processing Facility at Mir Kalam, Spina Banda, in the Karak District where unidentified culprits are stealing oil from the pipeline and transport it to other areas. 

This shocking disclosure came to the fore before the standing committee which met here with MNA Bilal Ahmed Virk in the chair. The issue was raised while replying to a question by MQM MNA Iqbal Muhammad Ali Khan during the question hour in the National Assembly few weeks back from where it was referred to the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources.

The MQM MNA had questioned the oil theft and alleged it was being done in connivance with Pakistan State Oil (PSO) employees. Managing Director and CEO of the state-run PSO Sheikh Imranul Haq replied, “It may be noted that no such incident of pilferage took place with or without the connivance of Pakistan State Oil Company Limited employees from June 1, 2013 till date. This filed is under control of the MOL – a foreign company.”

Federal Petroleum Secretary Arshad Mirza told the committee, “The government has been investigating this case and two inquiries have been conducted; we have found some traces, however, now the FIA was investigating it and would soon find the facts.” 

“This exploration and production block’s operations are in [Hungarian Oil and Gas Company] MOL’s possession. This does not indicate that the government is involved in it. We have involved the FIA in this investigation.” The MOL has only nine per cent shares in it while the government of Pakistan has 91 per cent.

MNA Nasir Khan Khattak said this theft of oil had been taking place for several years; even two persons, who wanted to take up the issue with the higher authorities, had been murdered.  Akram Khan Durrani raised the issue that in Karak, Bannu and DI Khan Districts, it is a common complaint that crude oil comes out of gas pipelines and even people collect oil from these pipes. He asked the minister why the government was not installing a machine to separate oil and gas and inject only gas into the system.

Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said, “The government has bided for the plant thrice, but it is not economically viable as it costs around Rs 15 to 25 billion, so vet gas is being injected into the system.” 

The committee decided to call Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) and FIA officials in the next meeting. The minister said, “For LNG, the government has made two contracts with the state-run Qatar Gas and another private company Gunvor. So far, 20 ships have reached Pakistan. Four other ships are on the way, of which three are from Qatar Gas and one from Gunvor.

He said that by end-March, 1.5 million tons of LNG will reach Pakistan and it was fixed in the contract for the first year. The meeting was attended by MNAs Muhammad Arshad Khan Leghari, Malik Itebar Khan, Chaudhry Khalid Javaid Warraich, Abdul Waseem and Akram Khan Durrani.