Pakistan is committed to completing the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project, but wanted to make a few changes in the contract, Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said. He was talking to reporters after witnessing the contract signing ceremony of award of exploration licenses and petroleum concession agreements in eight blocks to (OGDCL), Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) and Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL) for exploring oil and gas resources.
Khaqan said Pakistani government hasn''t yet talked about the LNG prices with Qatari government, adding that Pakistan would start importing LNG from November this year. He said the government is open to allow anybody and sectors to initiate import of LNG so that long-standing energy crisis could be ended, causing serious losses to the economy.
He appreciated the efforts of concerned officials of the Petroleum Ministry, especially by Saeedullah Shah, Director General Petroleum Concessions (DGPC) and his team for taking keen interest and taking on board all the four provinces in making the Petroleum Policy 2012 functional. He said exploration and production activities in the oil/gas sector would create job opportunities for skilled and unskilled workers.
"Due to investment friendly policies of the government, he said, 73 oil/gas wells were drilled during past one year and 17 discoveries have been made so far. We have added 230 Million Cubic Feet per Day (MMCFD) of gas and over 9,500 barrels of crude oil to the system since coming into power," Khaqan added. At present the country''s oil production has reached 84,374 bbl per day, which is the highest oil production level achieved so far and within next couple of weeks oil production will further increase by 10,000 barrels per day. These new discoveries will add another 130 MMCFD of gas and 3,553 barrels per day of crude oil to the network. So far, 45 MMCFD of gas and 1,924 bbl oil per day has been added to the network through new discoveries.
The minister also appreciated the DGPC and his team for preparing and finalising another 8 exploration licenses and 8 Petroleum Concessions Agreements within 10 days. He added that these efforts will bear fruit in the form of additional hydrocarbon reserves. The total area of the aforesaid blocks is 16,117.09 Sq. Km and a minimum firm work commitment is $ 49.58 million. Apart from minimum work commitment, companies are obligated to spend a minimum of $ 30,000 per year in each block on social welfare schemes. The ministry has already signed 12 exploration licenses (EL)/Petroleum Concession Agreement (PCA) to explore hydrocarbon resources.
Licenses were awarded for four blocks, including Block No. 2562-1 (Pasni West), 3070-16 (Pezu), 2970-6 (Alipur), and 2870-7 (Khanpur) with OGDCL, three for block No. 2566-4 (Hab), 2467-13 (Malir) and 2467-16 (Shah Bandar) with PPL and one for block No. 3371-16 (Peshawar East) with MPCL.
Pasni West block is located in Pasni, Gawadar and Kech districts of Balochistan. Pezu block is located in Laki Marwat, Tank, D.I. Khan and D.G. Khan districts of KP province; and Alipur block is located in Multan, Bahawalpur, Rahimyar Khan and Muzaffargarh districts of Punjab.
Khanpur block is located in Rahimyar Khan district of Punjab, Hab block is located in Jamshoro and Karachi districts of Sindh and Khuzdar and Lasbela districts of Balochistan, Malir block is located in Jamshoro and Karachi districts of Sindh, Shah Bandar block is located in Thatta district of Sindh and Peshawar East block located in Swabi, Mardan, Kohat, and Nowshera districts of KP and Attock district of Punjab. The ceremony was attended among others by secretary petroleum and respective heads of the three oil and gas entities.
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