Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said that Pakistan has initiated negotiations with over six different countries for import of LNG to overcome the gas shortage issue in the country. "We have started talks with Russia, Malaysia, Oman, Azerbaijan, Algeria and other African countries for LNG import to ensure sufficient supply of gas to meet local demand", the minister said at inaugural ceremony of the Compressors Revamping Project at Pakistan Petroleum Limited's flagship Sui Gas Field on Monday.
The Compressors Revamping Project was undertaken in continuation of PPL's endeavours towards production enhancement and reserves replacement. The project was completed well ahead of time with an actual cost of Rs 3 billion against the budgeted Rs 4 billion. This has enabled additional recovery of almost 217 bfc gas reserves and 25-30 mmscfd increase in gas production from the compressors. As a result of this and other initiatives, the annual historic production decline of 6 percent from Sui Gas Field has not only been arrested but also reversed with production being approximately 5 percent higher than the previous year.
The minister said that international sanctions are still major hurdle in completion of Pakistan Iran Gas Pipeline Project. He said gas is primary fuel in the country and it has 50 percent in the total energy mix. He said the government is planning to increase LNG import to 3.0bfc in next two years.
The minister congratulated PPL on its efforts towards production enhancement, notably the compressors revamping project at Sui. He urged oil and gas companies to enhance efforts for optimising production in order to bridge the supply demand gap and stem the drain on foreign exchange. He pointed out that after security clearance 30 exploration blocks would be put up for bidding soon.
He said the government is negotiating with China's largest exploration company Sinopec and some other companies of Hungry and Poland for strategic allotment of exploration blocks. Syed Wamiq Bokhari, MD and CEO of PPL presented an overview of PPL's recent achievements along with a string of records being broken primarily as a result of the company's move to an asset-based hybrid setup as well as staff efforts.
He highlighted the overall production decline reversal the company has been able to achieve along with Corporate Social Responsibility projects undertaken, especially in Sui. He said that PPL has planned to spend Rs 20 billion for exploration activities in Balochistan in next 10 years. He said the company was committed to improve its Reserve Replacement Ratio (RRR) and 28 wells would be spud this year compared with 23 wells last year. Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti also spoke on the occasion and appreciated PPL's efforts to increase gas production in the country. The event was attended by provincial and local government officials, area notables and media representatives, besides PPL's management and staff.