Pakistan to build artificial island to boost oil exploration

Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (PPL), a state-owned energy company, is reclaiming land from the sea to create a launchpad to ramp up oil and gas exploration, according to Bloomberg.

The artificial island will come up 300km (190 miles) off the coast of the southern Sindh province, PPL’s General Manager Exploration and Core Business Development Arshad Palekar said on the sidelines of an oil and gas conference in Islamabad. Planned with a height of six feet, the platform will prevent high tides from interrupting round the clock exploration work, he said.

Pakistan’s drilling efforts are gaining fresh momentum after US President Donald Trump indicated an interest in the country’s “massive oil reserves” in a social media post in July. Since then, the country has awarded offshore exploration licenses to local companies PPL, Mari Energies Ltd. and Prime International Oil and Gas Co.

The project, a first for Pakistan, builds on Abu Dhabi’s experience, where artificial islands for drilling have been successfully built, Palekar said.Construction of the island will be completed in February, and operation will start immediately after, according to Palekar. The company aims to drill around 25 wells.