ISLAMABAD, April 15: The Privatization Commission has received a total offer of $176.3 million from the highest bidders for the divestment of the government’s shareholding in nine oil & gas concessions.

The bidding ceremony was held under the chairmanship of the Federal Minister for Privatization Altaf M. Saleem and attended by a large number of local and foreign investors. Newsmen were also allowed to witness the ceremony.

Later, the Privatization Commission Board met and approved the highest bidding. CCoP meets on Tuesday to finally approve the transaction. The meeting also recommended for approval of CCoP the highest bids received for E&M Oil Mills and Maqbool Oil Company Limited amounting to roughly Rs94 million (Rs 48.50 per share) and Rs27 million (Rs102 per share) respectively.

The highest bid received for 1. Badin-I offered jointly by BP Pakistan Exploration & Production Inc, UK and Occidental Oil & Gas Pakistan LLC was $131,500,000, and they also offered highest bid for 2. Badin-II (Revised) of $8,500,000. Attock Oil, UK remained highest for 3. Turkwal concession with an offer of $1,60,000. 4. Adhi oil field received highest offer of US $ 11,330,000 from Pakistan Oilfields (POL), while Western Acquisition, USA made highest offer of $532,500 for 5. Ratana field. Western Acquisition Inc. also made solo bid for 6. Mazarani field offering $107,500. For 7. Dhurnal field again Western Acquisition Inc. remained highest with an offer of $3,834,000 while 8. Pariwali field and 9. Minwal field fetched highest offer of US $ 18,695,000 and US $ 201,000, respectively from Fauji Foundation and Pyramid Energy International Inc., Canada.

Privatization Commission had early last year and again this year solicited Expressions of Interest (EOI) from parties interested in acquiring the GoP’s working interest in these concessions. In response, 18 reputable parties submitted their EOI to participate in the bidding process.

Parties with relevant credentials were then provided an equal opportunity for a comprehensive assessment of the assets being offered. All the interested parties were provided required information regarding the concessions and the process. They were also allowed to conduct their own due diligence. The nine, which together currently have daily production of over 20,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (approximately 9, 700 barrels of Oil and 62 million cubic feet of gas per day), up some 5 per cent from the year before, and contain in excess of 50 million barrels equivalent of reserves, are: Operator Minwal 17.5 per cent GoP interest; Pakistan Oilfields Limited Pariwali 17.5 per cent; Pakistan Oilfields Limited Turkwal 20.0 per cent; Pakistan Oilfields Limited Badin I 40 per cent; Union Texas Pakistan Badin II (Revised) 25.0 per cent; Union Texas Pakistan Mazarani 12.5 per cent Pakistan Petroleum Limited Adhi 11 per cent; Pakistan Petroleum Limited Ratana 25 per cent; Orient Petroleum Inc. Dhurnal 25 per cent. Orient Petroleum Inc. Gaffney, Cline & Associates (GCA) & JP Morgan are jointly acting as Financial Advisors with respect to the sale of GoP’s direct working interest in these Oil & Gas leases.