The Directorate General of Petroleum Concessions (DGPC) has provisionally awarded five new exploration blocks to Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MARI), the company said in a notice to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday.

For two of the blocks, MARI will be an operator and for the remaining three blocks it will work in a joint venture (JV) partnership with two other exploration and production (E&P) companies — Pakistan Petroleum Limited and United Energy Pakistan Limited.

“The blocks have been awarded after competitive bidding on the basis of work units committed by various E&P companies in the block bidding round 2022 conducted by DGPC, Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division) and the Government of Pakistan,” read the notice.

Govt gives Provisional Award of New Exploration Blocks to E&P firms

Details of the blocks provisionally awarded to MARI are:

Dadhar Balochistan MPCL (40%), PPL (30%), UEPL (30%), Mach Balochistan MPCL (40%), PPL (30%), UEPL (30%), Kalat West Balochistan PPL (50%), MPCL (50%), Sui North Balochistan PPL (50%), MPCL (50%), Merranpur Punjab UEPL (50%) and MPCL (50%).

The formal award of petroleum rights (exploration license) in the blocks is conditional to the execution of petroleum exploration licenses/petroleum concession agreements with the government, execution of joint operating agreements among the JV partners and completion of related legal and procedural formalities, MARI said.

It added that the new blocks are "in accordance with the company's exploration business plan aiming to expand and grow its exploration acreage to add new resources to the company's hydrocarbon resource balance."