Sale of 35pc new gas reserves okayed after 11 months

Over one-third of the newly discovered gas reserves would be sold to private companies, a high-level committee decided on Monday. The decision by the committee, led by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, came after almost a year-long resistance from government-owned gas companies over this issue. The committee decided to sell 35pc of new gas finds to third-party private entities through a bidding process to ease liquidity challenges of the exploration and production (E&P) companies and attract $4-5bn fresh investment in offshore exploration, said a statement from the deputy PM’s office. The proposal to sell “35pc of the unallocated gas volumes” would now be submitted to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec). The proposal included a 100 million standard cubic feet per day cap for the first year, with annual reviews thereafter, as per the statement.