ISLAMABAD: The ministry of petroleum has submitted to the prime minister names of three officers for appointment as full-time managing director and chief executive officer of the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDC).

A senior government official told Dawn that the nominees include Masood Siddiqui, a former chief executive of Premier Kufpec Pakistan, Shahbaz Khan, a director at Hungarian MOL Pakistan and Riaz Khan, an executive at the OGDC.

He said Mr Siddiqui was the petroleum ministry’s top choice because of his experience in the oil and gas exploration sector as head of a multinational company. He has also been associated with ENI-Pakistan as a senior executive.

Mr Shahbaz Khan also has vast experience in petroleum exploration. Mr Riaz Khan, currently working as the executive director of production at the OGDC, he said, also had vast experience, although he was junior in the company to a couple of executive directors, including current acting managing director Basharat Mirza.

The source, however, said the prime minister could use his discretion to appoint anyone shortlisted by a ministerial committee led by Petroleum Minister Dr Asim Hussain.

The post of managing director of the country’s largest oil and gas producer has been lying vacant for more than six months now following the resignation of Mr Naeem Malik who opted to join the ministry of petroleum as the additional secretary instead of continuing as the OGDC chief executive. Since then, Mr Basharat Mirza – an executive director at the OGDC – has been officiating as the acting managing director.

Mr Naeem Malik took over as the managing director of OGDC following a controversial appointment of Adnan Khwaja as the managing director. The appointment was cancelled by the Supreme Court because of his dubious educational qualification and involvement in a corruption case and subsequently becoming a beneficiary of the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance.