The decision by the Ishaq Dar led task-force to sell 35% of all future gas discoveries made in Pakistan to private companies has been met with mixed responses. The government is naturally presenting this as the next great solution, claiming it will pump in $5 billion into Pakistan’s exploration and production sector. However, any reasonable person should be wary of these government ‘projections’ by now. At the same time, the private sector is pleased at the possibility of getting their hands on these discoveries, and have expressed the hope that it will make the sector more profitable.
But there are concerns in the midst of all of this. For starters, the policy has some very fierce critics. Not least among them are the government’s own petroleum minister and PML-N stalwart Dr Musadik Malik. Mr Malik was on the 20-member task force led by the Deputy Prime Minister, and repeatedly tried to delay the policy by being absent from meetings and proposing alternative policies with major changes. Mr Malik’s concerns have been dismissed rather than addressed. The worry is that Pakistan’s natural resources will be stretched thin and the government is preemptively setting itself targets that it may not be able to meet, and might lose out on profits from important discoveries. At the same time, the private sector, which seems in a celebratory mood, would do well to remember that the government has repeatedly proven itself to be a bad business partner.
It is worth noting that Pakistan has been on a selling spree ever since the incumbent government took over. Part of this has been the efforts of the SIFC, which has done much to promote investment into Pakistan’s mineral and agricultural sector. These efforts need to be maintained, and investor confidence is key. Which is why policy’s like the one Mr Dar has backed need to have comprehensive and feasible roadmaps, which up until now, have either been missing or not shared with the public.
