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| Pakistan delays upstream bidding round |
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| News Source：http://www.jinchemical.com/
; SendDate：2010-7-1 14:03:39 |
Pakistan has put on hold its current upstream bidding round, following a change to the country's constitution giving provincial governments more control over natural resources.
Pakistan had offered 17 onshore blocks in a licensing round scheduled to close at the end of June, but this has been postponed with new bidding dates yet to be announced.
Pakistan provinces are to get a greater share of natural resources as part of a constitutional amendment devolving more power away from Islamabad.
Pakistan launched the bidding round earlier this year to try and exploit more domestic resources to bridge a growing natural gas supply gap. The new licensing round promises improved fiscal incentives, a transparent and open regulatory environment and market reforms ¡ª courtesy of an overhaul of Pakistan's upstream policies that came into effect last year. Attracting foreign companies is difficult given Pakistan's poor security situation, with nearly half of the blocks on offer in the bidding round in provinces bordering Afghanistan.
The need for Pakistan to exploit more domestic gas resources for power generation is pressing amid worsening electricity shortages, which have hampered economic productivity and sparked riots. Development of domestic gas reserves is needed because or Pakistan's stuttering attempts to import gas through cross-border pipelines or LNG. |
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