Senate panel, energy players discuss challenges

Pakistan State Oil Managing Director Syed Muhammad Taha has said that empowering the board of management with regulatory powers is critical to ensuring the company’s sustainability and enabling it to compete effectively in an increasingly challenging market. During a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum held at the PSO headquarters on Thursday to review the challenges facing the energy sector, Mr Taha explained that 14pc of PSO’s circular debt is equivalent to its EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation] for FY23, highlighting the severity of the issue. He further detailed challenges such as trapped equity, price competition, investment stagnation, discount dumping, and franchise exploitation.