Oil output rises to 90,337 barrels/day in July-April

KARACHI: Oil production marginally rose 1.9 percent to 90,337 barrels/day (bpd) during the first 10 months of the current fiscal year of 2018, official data showed on Tuesday.

Local oil output stood at 88,635 bpd in the corresponding period a year earlier, the Pakistan Petroleum Information Service’s data showed.

Gas production, however, fell one percent to 3.992 billion cubic feet/day (bcfd) in the period under review. The gas output was recorded at 4.033 bcfd in the same period last year.

Almost all the key blocks recorded decline in gas production in April as compared to March and most of the increase as compared to April 2017 mainly came from new discoveries, such as Makori Deep, Tolanj and Tolanj West from Tal block and commissioning of key projects.

Analysts attributed weak gas production to production decline from key fields, such as Sui (down 10.8pc), Nashpa block (falling 23pc) and Adhi block (decreasing 3.1pc) on yearly basis in April. Liquid petroleum gas (LPG) production declined 3.8 percent month-on-month to 2,259 tons/day in April. It was improved 15.6 percent year-on-year. LPG production increased 17 percent in the July-April period, mainly on addition from Kunar Pasakhi Deep and Tando Allah Yar fields. Analyst Faizan Ahmed at JS Global said key blocks such as Tal, Nashpa and Sinjhoro posted decline during April. Notable increase in oil production was observed from Adhi block, Kunar Pasakhi Deep and Tando Allah Yar fields where production increased 49.4 percent post-commissioning of phase-II of the integrated project.

Production pattern remained similar with Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) showing the largest decline of 8.1 percent on yearly basis in oil production in April. On a sequential basis, however, oil production of OGDC remained almost flat. Pakistan Petroleum Limited recorded a 6.2 percent year-on-year decline in April and 0.4 percent decrease on sequential basis. “Only Pakistan Oilfields managed to show improvement in oil production of 7.8 percent on yearly basis, but on a sequential basis, it also posted decline of 1.6 percent,” Ahmed said.