No bids for 22 out of 23 oil & gas blocks

ISLAMABAD: No bids were received for 22 out of 23 oil and gas exploration blocks in the country’s latest petroleum licensing round, it is learnt.

The Directorate General of Petroleum Concessions (DGPC) opened the bids on October 2, 2025, only to find that only one company—Mari Energy—submitted a bid, and that too for a single block with a mere 131 work units. No international or other domestic exploration and production (E&P) companies participated.

The government had offered 23 onshore blocks across Balochistan, Sindh, Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) covering an estimated 55,000 square kilometers of sedimentary basin—an area rich in hydrocarbon potential.

When contacted, Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik did not respond. The question put to the minister read:

“Sir, learned that bidding for 23 blocks arranged by DGPC didn’t yield the required result. Only one bidder, Mari Energy, came up with 131 units for one block. Out of 23 blocks, only one bid came in. Don’t you think it’s a fiasco? No roadshow was held to attract bidders. Why?”

Despite follow-ups, there was no reply from the minister, even after a lapse of two days.

The same question was also sent to Secretary Petroleum Momin Agha, Additional Secretary, and Zafar Abbas, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division). All three officials did not respond.

Below is the full list of 23 blocks offered in the failed round: From Balochistan, the bloks that were include for bids include Parkini-II Block A (Zone-I), Parkini-II Block B (Zone-I), Rasmalan-II (Zone-I), Rasmalan-II West (Zone-I), Chhalgari (Zone-II), Block 28 North (Zone-I), Sohbat Pur (Zone-II), Naoukandi (Zone-I F) and Naoukandi South (Zone-I F).

From Baluchistan/Sindh, Dera Jamal Murad (Zone-II) and Kot Magsi (Zone-III) were included.

From Sindh, Zamzama-II South (Zone-III) and Kambar (Zone-III) were there to be for the bids.

From Punjab, Alipur-II (Zone-II), Layyah-II (Zone-II), Khanpur-II (Zone-II), Rachna-II (Zone-II), Multan North-II (Zone-II), Hetu-II (Zone-II), Ladhana-II (Zone-II), Fateh Pur-II (Zone-II) and from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), D.I. Khan West (Zone-I) and Paharpur-II (Zone-I) were included for the bids.