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ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani sacked the acting chairman of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), Rasul Bux Phulpoto.
ISLAMABAD: Over 10,500 employees of the Oil and Gas Development Company will get 438 million shares worth Rs36 billion from government holding from Aug 26, says federal Minister for Petroleum Naveed Qamar.
Mr Qamar, who announced the scheme at a press conference here on Wednesday, said: ‘Twelve per cent shares will be allocated from government holding of 73 per cent in the company’ under the Benazir Employees Stock Option Scheme in State-Owned Entities.
Mr Qamar said that an employee would get between Rs270,000 (1 x 3,000 shares x Rs90 per share) and Rs5,400,000 (20 x 3,000 shares x Rs90) on the basis of the length of his service.
Based on the dividend paid last year, the employees would also benefit from dividends ranging from Rs14, 250 (3,000 shares x Rs4.75 per share) to Rs285,000 (60,000 shares x Rs4.75 per share) each.
He said employees would form a trust in which three representatives each of employees and the government would be nominated.
The minister said the shares being offered to the employees would be bought back on their leaving the service. In the event of death of an employee, his or her legal heirs would get the amount.
He said the shares could not be sold in the market. ‘The scheme would create a sense of ownership among the workers and they would do more drilling and discoveries which would directly benefit the entity, government and the workers in the future. The necessity to implement BESOS in the loss-making units was of much importance to make such entities profitable,’ he added.
Qamar said the government was trying to solve workers’ problems. ‘We are … reinstating sacked employees, restoring trade union activities and repealing anti-worker laws.’
He said the government would aggressively implement the workers’ shares scheme to make workers partners in the country’s future.
Corporatisation of state-owned entities established under a special act or ordinance would also be taken up soon by the Privatisation Commission. A cell will be created in the Privatisation Commission for the purpose.
OGDCL was established as a statutory corporation in 1961 and made self-financing in July 1989. The company was incorporated as a public limited company in October, 1997.
OGDC’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) of five per cent shares was conducted in November 2003 while Secondary Public Offering (SPO) of 0.5 per cent shares was held in April 2007.
The Global Depositary Receipt with 0.5 per cent shares of OGDC was conducted in December 2006 with its listing on the London Stock Exchange in December 2006.Link...
PARIS — Oil demand is firming weakly this year, and a rally in 2010 driven by Asian economies is blurred by uncertainty over global recovery from the economic crisis, the IEA said on Wednesday.
The International Energy Agency said that Chinese demand had "rebounded" and that it saw "recovery in economic growth" outside the OECD area of advanced economies "prompting a demand rebound in 2010."
For 2009, the IEA revised upwards slightly its expected demand data but said that this was a mere drip compared to the overall fall from demand in 2008.
It also noted record low oil output by Nigeria but unexpectedly high production by Russia.
The agency said that the US driving season, a big factor in demand for petrol at this time of year, had "fizzled out" and that global demand for diesel fuel, used for trucks, engines and generators, was weak.
The agency said that it was "now among the bears for 2009 demand" which would fall by 2.3 million barrels per day from the 2008 average, marking contraction of 2.7 percent.
"Has the global recession ended?" the IEA asked, posing the pivotal question because demand for energy is tied to economic activity.
"The most that can be said is that the global economy may be stabilising -- but even if this is confirmed, it remains far from evident that growth will resume strongly before the end of the year."
It said: "Only in China and India is industrial production growth positive."
Elsewhere industrial production remained in a state of contraction even though the rate of decline had slowed slightly.
"More worryingly, industrial production has seemingly not reached the bottom in the US."
The monthly report said that shrinkage of demand for oil in Europe had increased to 900,000 barrels per day in the second quarter of this year.
"And the US 2009 gasoline (petrol) season now seems to have fizzled out before getting started."
Initial US demand for gasoline in July was 1.8 percent below the figure for 2008 after a fall of 1.6 percent in June.
"Green shoots of economic recovery there may be, but motorists have curbed driving and, at the margin, schemes to encourage vehicle fuel efficiency may begin to have an increasing impact."
The agency, the oil policy and monitoring arm of the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, said it had revised upwards expected global demand for oil this year by 190,000 barrels per day, and for next year by 70,000 barrels, because the outlook for Asian demand had risen for both years.
"This barely dents the sharp demand contraction to 83.94 mbd expected this year, while growth in 2010 is slightly lower than previously estimated, at plus 1.6 percent or 1.3 mbd to 85.25 mbd," the report said.
"The evidence of a bottoming out of the global recession is patchy, and global gasoil (diesel) demand -- a key indicator of economic health -- remains significantly subdued."
The IEA reported that global oil supplies had risen by 570,000 barrels per day to 85.1 million barrels per day in July.
Two thirds of this increase had come from producers outside the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Non-OPEC supply for this year was revised upwards by 160,000 barrels per day to 51.0 mbd, mainly because of unexpectedly strong Russian supply in recent months.
But supplies of crude oil from OPEC fell by about 100,000 barrels per day in July to 28.64 million barrels owing in part to record low output by Nigeria.
The IEA was at pains to list issues which fuzzed the outlook for 2010, saying that although "the global economy is expected to rebound next year" under the effects of massive stimulus action by authorities around the world, there was great uncertainty over what would happen as stimulus was withdrawn.
"It is also unclear whether a rebalancing of the world economy will occur ... as there is little sign that private consumption in key exporting economies, like Japan, Germany, China, is growing enough to offset its sharp fall in countries with large current account deficits, most notably the US.
"China's recent economic rebound, indeed, has been largely due to an investment surge as opposed to domestic consumption, raising the spectre of overcapacity, rising non-performing loans in state-owned banks and real estate and financial asset bubbles."
This suggested that "the country's economic growth could trend below levels seen in recent years." link...
