Pakistan’s oil production hits two-year high

KARACHI: Pakistan’s oil production reached two-year high of 97,000 barrels/day (bpd) in December 2016, led by production additions from Nashpa and Mardan Khel fields.

“Both the fields added around 11 percent to December 2016’s oil production, a cumulative flow of around 10,000bpd of oil,” analyst Nabeel Khurshhed said in a report issued by Topline Securities.

Gas production remained almost stagnant at around 4,000mmcfd, mainly due to the absence of any significant addition and natural depletion of existing fields, it added.

During December 2016, Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC), Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL) and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) registered record oil production levels of around 48,000, 18,000 and 8,000bpd, respectively.

“This was on the back of addition from Nashpa (OGDC and PPL hold 56 percent and 26 percent stakes) and Mardan Khel (POL and PPL hold 28 percent stakes each, while OGDC holds 21 percent),” Khursheed added.

Normalised flow from Kandhkot field surged to 205mmcfd in December 2016, up from 89mmcfd in December 2015. It contributes 13 percent to PPL’s total gas production.

Moreover, 32mmcfd addition from Shahdadpur field nudged up PPL’s gas production.

The report also showed OGDC’s gas production during December shrunk on the back of 12 percent lower flow from Uch, which contributes 26 percent of OGDC’s gas production.

Flow from Qadirpur, which accounts for 22 percent of OGDC gas production, went down seven percent, it added.

“With another expected addition of around 100mmcfd of gas and 4,000bpd of oil from the much-awaited OGDC’s Kunnar Pasaki Deep (KPD) project in the second half of the current fiscal year, Pakistan’s total oil production will likely to cross 100,000bpd to an average 95,200bpd in FY17. This will take Pakistan’s total hydrocarbon production to an average 778,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boed).”