Local oil, gas output drops in July-May

KARACHI: The production of oil and gas dropped 2.5 percent and 3.7 percent respectively in the first eleven months of this fiscal year, The News learnt on Wednesday, mainly owing to eroding reserves and suspension of pumping at some fields for yearly overhaul.

According to the data obtained by The News, indigenous crude oil output fell to average 73,668 barrels per day in July-May of current fiscal year compared to the average 75,548 barrels per day the country produced in the same months of the last year.

The production of oil reduced to 24.31 million tonnes in the first eleven months of the current fiscal compared to 24.93 million tonnes in the corresponding months of last fiscal year.

On the other hand, the production of gas also declined to average 3,383 mmcfd in the period under review against average 3,540 mmcfd in the same months of the last fiscal.

“The annual turnaround and natural decline in oil and gas reserves is the main reason for the drop in production in the country,” said Iqbal Javaid, analyst at Arif Habib Limited.

The hydrocarbon production has dropped at a time when the country is grappling with the record high global energy markets, which are costing the government as well as consumers dearly in terms of high forex spending as well as high domestic prices of fuels.

This decline has led to more reliance on the imported energy products i.e. petroleum and gas, whose prices have gone through the sky.

During the first 10 months of FY22, the energy import bill surged 96 percent to $17.03 billion

compared to $8.70 billion in the same period of last year.

Moreover, imports of refined products surged 121 percent to $8.55 billion in the 10-month fiscal period. Crude oil imports rose 75 percent to $4.22

billion, LNG (liquefied natural gas) imports increased 83 percent to $3.70 billion and LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) imports rose 40 percent to $557 million.