ISLAMABAD: It has been more than three years now since the government started headhunting for the top slot of Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL). The position was advertised thrice; now qualification criteria has also been tailored in the last advertisement made this month, fueling speculations that it has been done to pick someone already decided. In this long search for the ‘right’ candidate, the PPL continues to be headless.
The country’s premier exploration company had Wamiq Bukhari its last managing director who left in 2018 after completing his three-year tenure.
Saeedullah Shah was named acting MD as a stop-gap arrangement after the exit of Wamiq. In the meanwhile, the post was advertised in April that year. This followed a rigorous recruitment process like the short-listing of candidates and each of them was interviewed more than once. This exercise took 17 months to complete.
Finally, a day came that details of the top three candidates were submitted to the prime minister and his cabinet. The hopefuls waited with bated breath for the outcome. But to their surprise, none of them was the winner. A dramatic development took place instead. Guess what? This 17-month recruitment process was annulled and a fresh advertisement for the same position was floated.
Meanwhile, a new acting MD was named. Moin Raza, the deputy MD for exploration and business development, was appointed in January 2019 as interim head of the PPL. A NAB inquiry against him is pending. The selection committee started receiving new applications after the second advertisement was made. Again, an intensive process of short-listing, interviews and presentations followed. The PPL board, Secretary Petroleum and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Petroleum also interviewed the top candidates. The list was again sent to the prime minister and his cabinet.
The top three candidates this time were different from the ones chosen in the first process. Much like the previous candidates, they waited impatiently for the outcome but that was not different from the previous occasion. The whole process which this time took 21 months to complete was annulled again. The post was advertised this month for the third time.
The latest advertisement is conspicuous by alteration in the qualification criteria. Fifteen-year experience of exploration and production in the petroleum sector has been made mandatory this time, making it too narrow and very specific, which is generally not required for senior leadership positions in such companies. As per the industry and previous PPL advertisement for this post, the qualification criteria was open to public and private sector experience with understanding of the oil and gas industry. This would allow a fair selection of a diversified group of candidates to try their luck. According to industry sources, Moin Raza, the acting MD, has requisite experience defined in the newly-advertised qualification.
Even during the selection process for PPL and OGDCL heads in 2018, the short-listed candidates for both organisations had oil and gas sector’s experience and none of them had the background of experience in oil and gas exploration, a condition now made mandatory. The News spoke to the Secretary Petroleum Dr. Arshad Mehmood to inquire about the inordinate delay in the selection process and tailoring of the qualification criteria.
He said he was the new one in the ministry and didn’t know much about the past selection processes. About the second one, he said he came to know that all the three candidates had issues in some way. One of them, for example, was wanted to NAB therefore declared ineligible. Another one became overage by the time induction was to be made and the third one got a job in Mari Petroleum by that time.
Asked what the selection committee did in 21 months if it remained ignorant about their background, he said this stage of checking backgrounds came at the later stage. About changing the qualification criteria, he said it was necessary to have someone with management and field experience. He ruled out the possibility that the criteria had been changed to oblige someone blue-eyed.
