ISLAMABAD: The Natio­nal Assembly Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources on Monday recommended the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) to increase the number of new domestic gas connections to one million per year.

The committee, chaired by MNA Chaudhry Bilal Ahmad Virk, also recommended enhancement of domestic connections to new localities by 100 connections.

The committee was apprised that Ogra had allowed 0.5 million new domestic connections to gas distribution companies per year. However, due to huge number of pendency, the gas companies were unable to meet the demand.

The committee was further apprised that 200 connections were allowed to be provided to new localities.

The Ogra representative said the regulatory authority had no objection to increase as recommended by the committee, in case the gas companies had the capacity to carry out the task.

The committee, while discussing the performance of Pakistan State Oil, directed the state-owned entity to aggressively pursue measures to realise its recoverable from government departments.

The committee also expressed satisfaction on the performance of Pakis­tan Minerals Development Corporation (PMDC) and Hydro-Carbon Deve­lopment Institute of Pakistan (HDIP).

MNA Virk directed the management of the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) to pursue the inquiries on irregularities in disbursement of workers funds, misuse of medical facilities and theft of diesel.

The committee secretary was directed to ensure that the OGDCL management apprised the NA body about the outcome of these directives.

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2017