CM wants Sindh to be compensated for gas unavailable to its residents

Sindh should be compensated for the amount of gas not being provided to its residents as the entire country is benefitting from its gas being supplied to the power and fertiliser industry.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said this on Friday while he was presiding over a meeting to discuss amendments proposed in the Ogra (Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority) Ordinance 2020.

The CM maintained that under the Article 158 of the constitution, the province where well-head of natural gas was situated had the first right to utilise its gas. “But on the contrary, natural gas produced from Sindh is being supplied to other provinces while requirements of the province are not being met,” he said, adding that “the natural gas produced in Sindh is also being supplied to the fertiliser and power sectors and the entire country benefits from power and fertiliser.”

Had the natural gas produced in Sindh been supplied to the industrial, commercial and domestic consumers in the province, Sindh could have benefited a lot, the CM said. “Thus, Sindh may be compensated for the amount of natural gas not provided to its consumers of different sectors.”

Shah directed Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh to sit with experts of his department and prepare a case so that it could be sent to the next Council of Common Interests (CCI) meeting. The CM said he had decided to send a letter to the federal government to convene the CCI meeting as three months had passed since the last meeting of the council.

The Sindh government has been demanding that the federal government give the provincial governments their due representation in the national institutions such as Ogra, the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited, Pakistan International Airlines and others.

Ogra ordinance

The Economic Coordination Council had earlier directed the cabinet division to initiate the procedure for making necessary amendments in the Ogra Ordinance 2002 so as to bring the RLNG supply chain within its ambit in consultation with the petroleum division and Ogra.

Regarding the modifications in the law, the Sindh government has proposed an amendment in the Section 3 (3) which reads “The Authority shall consist of a Chairman to be appointed by the Federal Government and four Members, one from each of the Provinces, who in turn will be appointed by the Federal Government in consultation with the concerned Provincial Government.”

The Sindh government has also proposed an amendment in Section 3(13) which reads “There shall be a Vice-Chairman of the Authority, appointed from amongst the members for a period of one year, by rotation, in the following order, namely: the Member representing the Province of Balochistan; the Member representing the Province of Sindh; the Member representing the Province of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; and the Member representing the Province of the Punjab.”

On the matter of powers of the federal government to issue policy guidelines to Ogra, the Sindh government has proposed that the federal government could issue policy guidelines to the authority but with the prior approval from the CCI. The Sindh government also urged the CCI to decide the provincial government’s pending matters such as amendments in the Regulation of Mines and Oil Fields and Mineral Development Act 1948 and The Mines Act 1923 and other issues.