ISLAMABAD: After 15 months in office, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources has called first meeting of chairmen and managing directors of all public sector oil and gas companies to ask them increase their profitability.

Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi would preside over the meeting on Thursday.

The meeting comes at a time when managing directors of almost all the oil and gas companies are on their way out. “The guidelines for increasing profitability would be given to companies’ heads who are working on acting charge, additional charge or temporary charge basis,” said a chairman of an oil company.

He gave examples of Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), Pakistan State Oil (PSO), Pakistan Petroleum Limited, Sui Southern Gas Company and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited, none having a full time chief executive or managing director.

Informed sources said the petroleum minister’s proposed lecture to the chairmen board of directors and managing directors of oil and gas companies was originally planned to touch upon topics like transparency, merit and good governance but then it was decided to focus only on increasing profitability.

Interestingly, the petroleum ministry had directed the chairmen board of directors of oil and gas companies on August 6, 2014 to complete within one month the process of recruitment of managing directors and forward panels of three candidates each for appointment as chief executive or managing director with the approval of the prime minister.

Informed sources said after passage of almost two months now, the process was still incomplete and all companies were working under part-time heads.

The government had in fact advertised in June 2013 the posts of chief executives and applications received were forwarded to independent consultant — A F Ferguson — and Federal Commission for Heads of Public Sector Organisations, led by Chaudhry Abdul Rauf for merit based selection.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd , 2014