Govt replaces seven PSO directors

ISLAMABAD: The government has removed seven of the nine directors of the board of management of Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and appointed new members, most of them having interests in the oil and gas sector.
Most of the outgoing directors were appointed by caretaker prime minister Mohammedmian Soomro in February 2008.

According to sources, the directors who have been removed are Mohammad Yousaf Qamar Hussain Siddiqui, Istaqlal Mehdi (MD, Pak Kuwait Investment Co), Arshad Said (former executive, Shell), Iftikhar Asghar, Iskandar Mohammad Khan (Premier Group of Companies), Mohammad Ejaz Chaudhry (Additional Secretary, Petroleum) and Haji Amin Pardesi (Chairman, Mazyood Giga International).

The new members of the board are Asad Saeed, Pervaiz Khan, Tariq Khamisani, Usman Saifullah Khan, Hamayoun Jogezai, Sabir Hussain (Director General, Oil) and Malik Naseem Hussain.
Managing Director Irfan K. Qureshi and financial adviser Mehmood Akhtar will continue to be in the PSO board of management.

Sources in the petroleum ministry said Tariq Khamisani was from the British Petroleum, a company that had been engaged in diligence of the PSO for a possible takeover of majority stakes and management control through privatisation. Interestingly, Istaqlal Mehdi has been shown the door because of his conflict of interest as his company had shown interest in privatisation of the PSO.

The reason for the exclusion of Arshad Saeed from the board is ‘conflict of interest, being an ex-employee of PSO’s competitor Shell Pakistan’.

Usman Saifullah Khan is son of former petroleum minister Anwar Saifullah Khan who runs a couple of energy sector companies.

Pervaiz Khan is from the Uch Power Company and Asad Saeed has experience in multinational energy firms.
Documents suggest that the petroleum ministry’s summary seeking restructuring of the PSO board did not recommend the name of Malik Naseem Hussain who was inducted reportedly on the instructions of Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary Nargis Sethi.

The ministry said the decision to reconstitute the board of management was taken after reviewing the performance of PSO over the past few years. ‘It has been observed that some members have been on the board for a long time and are above the prescribed age limit which is against the principles of corporate governance,’ it said. The reconstituted board would leverage the company’s potential and market presence and improve its operations and profitability, it said.

These sources said the PSO management had separately forwarded a case for the removal of the board’s chairman Sardar Yasin Malik because he was overage and had completed two terms. The government had not taken a decision on the issue, they said.