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Thursday March 28, 2024

E&P firms complete 2D, 3D surveys, drill 93 wells in 2018

By APP
January 12, 2019

ISLAMABAD: Oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) companies carried out 4,371km 2D and 1,240sqkm 3D seismic surveys, besides drilling 93 exploratory and developmental wells in different potential areas during 2018.

Some wells are under the evaluation process, while 13 new discoveries with overall 105.18mmcfd gas, 5,358bpd oil flow have been made in the last four months, official sources told APP.

They said Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) made a discovery in August 2018 in Sanghar district, Sindh, having flow of 23 million cubic feet/day (mmcfd) gas and 91 barrels/day (bpd) oil.

In September, the PPL found an oil deposit with the initial flow of 313bpd in Chakwal district in Punjab.

The same company struck two back-to-back discoveries on December 3 and 4 in Sanghar and Sajawal districts of Sindh with the flow of 18.6mmcfd gas and 160bpd oil, and 9mmcfd gas, respectively.

The Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) made a discovery in September in Kohat district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, having preliminary flow of 1.3mmcfd gas and 550bpd oil.

Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL) also contributed a discovery in September in Kachi district of Balochistan with the flow of 1,500bpd oil.

United Energy Pakistan Limited (UEPL) made five successful drills, one in Tando Allahyar district of Sindh in September, under which it found oil deposits having initial flow of 1,056bpd, second and third were in Tando Mohammad Khan district of Sindh in October with 6.3mmcfd and 9.5mmcfd gas flow, respectively, while fourth and fifth were also occurred in Sindh in October and December with 9mmcfd and 31mmcfd gas flow, respectively.

Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL) recently discovered an oil reserve in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with the initial flow of 27bpd.

OMV Maurice, an E&P company, discovered gas deposit in Ghotki district of Sindh in September with the flow of 6.48mmcfd.

The sources said the petroleum division was in the process of awarding more blocks to E&P companies to tap existing potential of oil and gas deposits in different parts of the country.

The companies had planned to drill 90 wells in different areas across the country during the current fiscal year, of which 50 would be exploratory and 40 developmental.

The government, the sources said, had set an ambitious target to produce 33.50 million barrel (mbbl) crude oil and 1.473 trillion cubic feet (tcf) natural gas through indigenous resources during the current year.

As per the annual development plan, the indigenous gas supply will be supplemented through liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports of 9 million tons, while the supply-demand gap in both oil and gas sectors will be met through the import of crude oil and petroleum products.

About promotion of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sector, they said, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) had proposed to grant 33 licences to ensure smooth supply of the commodity in far-flung areas, especially during peak winter season.

In the proposal, 25 licences are for operation / marketing of LPG, storage and filling.

The sources said the government was in the process of finalising shale oil and gas and petroleum policies to re-energise the ongoing exploration activities by extending more incentives to local and foreign companies to achieve autarky in the energy sector.

Following a realistic approach when there is no significant gas discovery since long and the existing reserves are depleting fast, they said, a special strategy with regard to gas import was being pursued.

Elaborating, the sources said, import of LNG was already in place, significant progress had been made in Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline, while Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project was also being pursued actively.

Now, the world’s major players were showing interest to invest in the energy sector of the country, the sources said, adding that Exxon Mobil, a US-based and one of the world’s largest oil and gas company, has re-entered Pakistan’s market along with the joint venture partner ENI for exploration at offshore Indus G-Block called Kekra-I (an ultra-deep well), believing that the country had gas reserves for 50 years.

A Russian firm Gazprom International is poised to start feasibility study for laying a $10 billion offshore gas pipeline.

Through the pipeline, the firm would supply the commodity to Pakistan from its Middle East fields, which would have great potential of regional connectivity.

Accordingly, a memorandum of understanding has reached between Gazprom and Inter State Gas Systems (Pvt) Limited of Pakistan, marking the world leading Gazprom’s formal entry into the Pakistani market.

"Gazprom is a market leader and its inclusion in this project means it will assist in design, construction and operation of this gas pipeline."

The project envisaged transporting of gas molecules from Gazprom’s sources in the Middle East onwards to Pakistan with a possibility in extending it further to South Asian countries, the sources added.