Govt Removes MDs of SNGPL & SSGC Over Gas Crisis

On the recommendation of the fact-finding committee, Prime Minister Imran Khan has removed Managing Directors of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd. (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC). Khan had taken action and ordered an inquiry after the Industrial sectors of Sindh and Punjab came to a standstill with a total gas outage across both provinces on December 12. The Petroleum division had formed a four-member fact-finding committee under the chair of OGRA’s chairperson Uzma Adil. Qazi Saleem Siddiqui, DG(PC), Shahid Yousaf DG(Gas) and Imran Ahmad, DG(LG) were the other members of the committee. Three weeks after the incident, the committee submitted its report to Secretary petroleum, who forwarded it to the PM with his own recommendations a few days back. The report held the managing directors of gas companies responsible for the gas crisis. The prime minister, by the findings, ordered the removal of MDs of SNGPL Amjad Latif and SSGC Muhammad Amin Rajput with immediate effect. PM Khan also chaired a Cabinet Meeting on Energy on Tuesday. The meeting decided in principle not to extend the export subsidy to refineries located in coastal areas for furnace oil export, The News reported. However, Parco and Attock refineries would be exempted from the decision as they will pay on-land freight up to Karachi-port city. The government has also formed a committee to determine if the refineries will face a loss in profit while exporting the furnace oil. It should be mentioned here that the PTI-led government has also placed a ban on the import of furnace oil for the power sector.