ISLAMABAD, Jan 27: Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Amanullah Khan Jadoon here on Thursday said that progress was being made on Turkmenistan, Qatar and Iran gas pipelines.

The minister was administering oath to the newly elected office-bearers of Oil and Gas Development Company Limited's Mazdoor Ittihad (CBA) Union.

The government, he said, was giving top priority to the country's economic uplift by enhancing oil and gas production. "Efforts are on to make progress on Turkmenistan, Qatar and Iran gas pipelines.

The country's GDP rate, he observed, was now touching 6.5 per cent and it was hoped that it could touch the seven per cent mark during the current fiscal year. "OGDCL's about one dozen oil and gas discoveries during the last year is a massive achievement," Mr Jadoon maintained.

"Energy is the base for country's progress." He hailed the OGDCL achievements and said that it had proved itself a major oil and gas national company. He assured his ministry's full cooperation in upgrading the Oil and Gas Training Institute (OGTI) to the level of a university and asked the OGDCL management to prepare a summary in this regard.

The minister on the occasion awarded service regularization certificates to work-charge employees of batch-III. A total of 630 work-charge employees were made permanent.

Earlier, OGDCL Managing Director Najam K. Hyder said the company had achieved record achievements in previous years.