SC declares LNG contract null and void
Updated at: 1259 PST, Wednesday, April 28, 2010
SC declares LNG contract null and void ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court (SC) has declared the import contract of Liquefied Natural Gas as null and void, Geo News reported Wednesday.
Today, the federal government informed the Supreme Court (SC) that it has decided to again send the matter relating the import contract of Liquefied Natural Gas to Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet (ECC) after declaring the contract as not binding.
The Supreme Court was told in a letter that the government will review the LNG import contract with French energy company GDF Suez.
The Petroleum Ministry said in the letter that it would present the top government economic decision-making body with a fresh proposal on which companies can bid to import 3.5 million tonnes of LNG a year, in a case that has focused on transparency efforts in the country.
The Supreme Court took up the case after media reports that Pakistan had lost $1 billion when senior Petroleum Ministry officials ignored the lowest bid by the Fauji Foundation and European company Vitol, for the contract.
The government said in the letter to the Supreme Court that it would re-submit a proposal made by Fauji and Vitol in July 2009 for the project.
The lawyers of the parties voiced consensus over cancellation of gas supply contract for Mashal project, resort to the ECC for fresh approval of gas supply and inclusion of the Fauji/VITOL in the bid.
A three-member SC bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed and Justice Ghulam Rabbani is hearing a suo motu case over a news report published in The News regarding the award of a short-term contract for the import of LNG to a French company, GDF Suez, at exorbitant rates.
The report had revealed how some top guns of the Petroleum and Natural Resources Ministry awarded a multibillion-dollar contract to import 3.5 million tonnes of LNG to a French firm after ignoring the lowest bid offered jointly by the Fauji Foundation and Vitol.
http://www.geo.tv/4-28-2010/63976.htm