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Pakistan adds new companies to its giant Privatisation Programme

The government of Pakistan has added Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) and part of the Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) to the Active List of its Privatisation Programme. 

The Privatisation Programme was announced in March 2019 and initially included 49 companies, active in power generation (Jamshoro Power Generation Company, Central Power Generation Company (747 MW Guddu CCGT power plant), Northern Power Generation Company (425 MW Nandipur power plant) and Lakhra Power Generation Company) and electricity supply (in Faisalabad, Islamabad, Lahore, Gujranwala, Peshawar, Multan, Hyderabad, Quetta, Sukkur and Kot Addu). In the energy sector, National Power Parks Management Company Limited (NPPMCL), Mari Petroleum (divestment of remaining state-owned shares), and Lakhra Coal Mines (now Lakhra Coal Development Company) will all be privatised by the end of 2020. The government is expecting to obtain PKR300bn (US$1.9bn) from the sale of NPPMCL's assets, namely the 1,223 MW Balloki LNG-fired power plant, and the 1,230 MW Haveli Bahadur LNG-fired power plant. The Privatisation Commission is required to complete the bidding process for those assets by the end of December 2019.

In the second phase of its programme, the Privatisation Commission approved the proposed privatisations of Central Power Generation Company and of Northern Power Generation Company. The Oil and Gas Development Corporation Limited (OGDCL, 85% state-owned) will also be privatised. As of March 2018, OGDCL had an average net production of 41,500 bbl/d of crude oil (i.e. 47% of total oil production). Another company in the list is Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), which operates 10 producing fields in Balochistan, Sindh and Punjab and has working interests in 20 additional fields. PPL is the country's largest gas producer (around 1/4 of total gas production).

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