KARACHI, MAR 15 – Chairman of National Business Group of FPCCI, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Monday said the recent Senate elections have exposed serious flaws in the system.

How come general elections can be conducted in a good manner if an issue of one hundred votes cannot be tackled properly, he said?

Mian Zahid Hussain said that Senate elections have resulted in increased tensions among the stakeholders which has raised concerns among the business community as instability will multiply in the weeks to come.

Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the politicians representing the ruling the coalition, as well as opposition, have started the verbal war in press conferences and talk shows widening the political divide.

A new round of litigations and protests could be seen on the horizon which will deprive the government of its ability to provide relief to the masses or undertake some serious long due reforms, he observed.

The business leader noted that how come government deliver when its whole attention would be focused on thwarting the moves of the increasingly belligerent opposition.

The tussle between the government and the opposition will provide a perfect opportunity for the profiteers to skin masses for their profits further pushing millions below the poverty line.

He noted that the politics of confrontation will not only hit the economy and masses but all the private and state-run businesses including the stock exchange and it will also damage the society as well as the system.

The government and the opposition should control their spokespersons who are adding fuel to the fire and all the political parties should join hands to remove weaknesses from the election process, rules should be improved and the issue of spy cameras should be tackled in the best possible way.

The situation should be pushed towards normalcy to save the economy from further erosion and provide some relief to the troubled masses, he demanded.

ISLAMABAD, Mar 15 : Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) has produced around 36,423 BBL oil, 856 MMCFD gas, 778 TPD LPG and 52 TPD Sulphur during first half of the current fiscal year.

The company’s production witnessed a slight decline due to natural depletion at some oil and gas fields as compared to same period of the last year.

The two-quarter production of last year was 38,084 Barrel (BBL) of crude oil, 910 Million Cubic Feet per Day (MMCFD) of gas, 747 Tons per Day (TPT) of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and 54 TPD Sulphur, according to the OGDCL’s half-yearly report available.

During the period under review, the OGDCL’s oil and gas production was impacted primarily by natural decline at Kunnar, KPD-TAY, Dakhni and Nashpa fields.

Moreover, lower production was recorded on account of non-revival/partial revival of forced shut-in wells of Kunnar-2, 3, 9 & 10 during COVID-19 coupled with annual turn around at Dakhni, Nashpa , Sinjhoro and Uch wells.

Likewise, gas production was also affected due to decline in production share from NJV fields combined with less gas In-take from Qadirpur and Uch fields by Engro Powergen and M/s UPL-I & II respectively.

The company said the production decline was partially mitigated by injection of ten operated wells in the gathering system including Mela-7, Pasakhi-11, TAY South West-1, Saand-1&2, Umair-1, Mangrio-1, Togh Bala-1, Nashpa-10 and Pasakhi Deep-6 which cumulatively yielded gross crude oil and gas production of 163,894 barrels and 2,039 MMCF respectively.

In order to arrest the natural decline and sustain production from mature fields, as many as fifty seven work-over jobs were carried out comprising 7 with rig and 50 rig-less.