Islamabad, January 28, 2019 (PPI-OT): The Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum has called to monitor the report submitted by subcommittee on petroleum to examine the recruitment of locals and social welfare schemes under the CSR obligations by the oil and gas companies in KPK. The Committee stressed the need for tools for strict monitoring of the Saindak copper Gold and Coal at Rekodec.
The Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum held here at Parliament house under chairmanship Senator Mohsin Aziz. The meeting was attended by senators Lt.Gen (R) Salahuddin Tirmizi, Mir Kabeer Ahmed Muhammad Shahi, Saleem Zia, Shamim Afridi, Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan Nasar along with senior officers from Ministry, OGDCL and MOl.
A report was presented by sub-committee that resulted with further recommendation included that the composition of the district committee for CSR projects should be reviewed and the new compositions may include one member each from National Assembly and Senate, district Nazim, concerned deputy commissioner, and representative from the local community. The deputy commissioner should be the focal person and should be responsible for execution of the welfare schemes under the CSR obligations.
Committee was also given a briefing on Saindak copper Gold projects. Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum sought in-camera briefing on the Reko Diq and Saindak projects during next meeting, after holding a through discussion on mining of copper and gold deposits in the Balochistan province.
The Petroleum Division officials briefed the body that all activities at the field were well- documented and verified by different government agencies including Customs, Export Promotion Zone Authority (EPZA), Federal Board of Revenue and Directorate General of Mines and Minerals, Balochistan.
They said the commodities entering or taken away from the project area were documented by both the EPZA and Customs authorities at the project site. “The product export from Saindak to Karachi is treated as “bounded consignment.” The officials said the Chief Instructor of Mines Balochistan regularly monitored the mining operations to ensure safety and health of workers, besides, technical experts and mining engineers were deployed to monitor the operational activities.
“Mining and extraction of products for sale are weighed and sampled at the laboratories there,” they said adding that accounts of the Contractor were audited by a reputed Pakistani chartered accountant firm appointed in consultation with Saindak Metals Limited (SML).
Additional Secretary Mian Asad Hayaud Din said the Petroleum Division was going to brief the Prime Minister on security issues in some oil and gas exploration blocks, suggesting forming a Special Security Force as E and P Companies were spending around Rs 14 billion annually on security of their crew and machinery. The meeting was also informed by representatives of Mari Petroleum Company Limited that it was going to start seismic surveys in Zarghon and Block-28 from March and April respectively, adding that the survey takes one-year time to complete as per international practice.
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