Pakistan’s 18th attempt to find oil, gas in deep sea!

Pakistan’s premier Imran Khan said last month that he would give good news to the nation very soon as he was optimistic that Asia’s largest oil and gas reserves may soon be found near Karachi.
Following Khan’s optimism, international media also wrote that Pakistan may soon hit the big oil discovery and that will be good news for not only the country itself but all of South Asia as well as China and Gulf nations.
Meanwhile, the officials and experts from exploration companies who Engineering Review talked to said it was early to say anything for sure as regards the find. However, they do agree that the exploration companies have been indicating huge reserves of oil and gas in the Indus Basin area.
In Pakistan, the probability of success has been one in seven attempts, an official said. The last exploratory well in the offshore area was drilled in January 2010. This is the 18th attempt to find hydrocarbons from deep waters in Pakistan. Previous 17 attempts in deep sea found the wells either dry or not commercially viable.
Reports this time say there is a strong possibility that the country may discover a very big oil reserve in its waters. If this prediction comes true, the discovery will help Pakistan to tackle its economic problems.
The US oil giant Exxon Mobil and Italy’s Eni have been involved since January this year in drilling an ultra-deep oil well.
Pakistan may have a more urgent need for foreign investment if massive oil reserves were indeed discovered.
There may be more international companies including Chinese wanting to participate in related projects ranging from exploration to refining and logistics. The related investment will help Pakistan maintain its growth momentum, says a report.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was originally conceived as a strategic project with oil and gas pipeline links between Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Gwadar port.
If Pakistan discovers massive oil reserves, that will be a motivation to extend Pakistan’s pipeline network further into neighboring countries, and also to enhance energy cooperation with Gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia.
Not only China but also the whole region will benefit from economic integration through energy connectivity.
Using those reserves will likely result in large cross-border capital flows, infrastructure investment, energy trades, and people-to-people exchanges. The region will see the development and utilization of oil reserves as a pillar of economic integration and stability.
The geopolitical picture in Asia has long been complex and uneven, but Pakistan’s potential oil reserves are likely a game-changer for the region, with economic cooperation in energy.
When the drilling started
In January 2019, Pakistan began offshore drilling after a gap of nine years to find estimated huge oil and gas deposits in ultra-deep waters at an estimated cost of over $100 million.
The US firm ExxonMobil in collaboration with Italian firm Eni Pakistan Limited is drilling at Kekra-1 well in Indus G block in ultra-deep waters some 280 kilometers away from Karachi coast.
Eni Pakistan has estimated nine trillion cubic feet gas deposits. Exxon Mobile expects oil deposits there.
ExxonMobil has one major drilling ship, three supply vessels, and two helicopters on the site.
Eni Pakistan is the operator of the block, while, Exploration and Production Pakistan BV (EEPP) working on drilling the well. Pakistan state-owned Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) are part of the joint venture. Each of the four firms has a 25% participating interest in the block.
The last exploratory well in the offshore area was drilled in January 2010. This is the 18th attempt to find hydrocarbons from deep waters in Pakistan.
Earlier, Pakistan has drilled 17 times in deep sea. The wells were either found dry or not commercially viable to be operated.
Some of the surveyors find the block ‘Indus-G’ similar to Indian offshore Bombay High oilfields, which produces 350,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil, while some define it like wells producing hydrocarbons in the oil and gas-rich country, Kuwait in the Gulf.
A claim in 2018
Last year Pakistan’s Pakistan’s caretaker minister for maritime affairs and foreign affairs Abdullah Hussain Haroon had said ExxonMobil is close to hitting huge oil reserves near the Pakistan-Iran border, which could be even bigger than the Kuwaiti reserves.
ExxonMobil, the American multinational oil and gas company, has so far drilled up to 5,000 meters close to the Iranian border and is optimistic about the oil discovery, Haroon told business leaders at the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) in August 2018.
If the oil deposits are discovered as expected, Pakistan will be among top the 10 oil-producing countries ahead of Kuwait in the sixth position.
Kuwait’s oil reserves make up 8.4 percent of the oil reserves in the world. Kuwait claims to hold about 101.50 billion barrels, including half of five billion barrels in the Saudi-Kuwaiti neutral zone which Kuwait shares with Saudi Arabia.
According to current estimates, 81.89 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves are located in OPEC member countries, with the bulk of OPEC oil reserves in the Middle East, amounting to 65.36 percent of the OPEC total, OPEC data shows.
ExxonMobil had committed to set up a generation complex worth $10 billion.
ExxonMobil’s stakes in offshore drilling in Pakistan
In May 2018, the ExxonMobil had acquired 25 percent stakes in offshore drilling in Pakistan.
Pakistan currently meets only 15 percent of its domestic petroleum needs with crude oil production of around 22 million tons; the other 85 percent is met through imports. The country facing a huge current account deficit of up to $18 billion is spending a substantial amount of foreign exchange reserves on the import of oil. The import bill of Pakistan rose by to $12.928 billion in the July-May 2017-18 period of the last fiscal year.
Drilling elsewhere
Around 17 oil and gas Exploration and Production (E&P) companies were currently operating in different potential areas of Sindh to tap hydrocarbon reserves and meet ever-growing energy needs of the country.
The companies have drilled 12 wells in districts Tando M Khan, Matriarch, Sanghar, Tando A Yar, Jamshoro Badin, and Ghotki, while the government has provisionally awarded two exploration blocks in Sukkur-Khairpur and Jamshoro during last eight months.
The companies including Eni Pakistan Limited, Heritage Oil and Gas Limited, Hycarbex American Energy Inc., UEPL Beta (OMV/Pakistan) Exploration , UEPL Alpha (OMV Maurice Energy Ltd, Orient Petroleum Limited, Polish Oil and Gas company, Spud Energy Pty Limited, United Energy Pakistan, Mari Petroleum Company Limited, New Horizon Exploration and Production Limited, Oil and Gas Development Company Limited, Oil and Gas Investment Ltd., Pakistan Oilfields Limited, Pakistan Petroleum Limited, Petroleum Exploration Limited and Zaver Petroleum Corporation Limited are busy in drilling activities in different areas of Sindh.
During the first four months of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government, the E&P companies have made 13 oil and gas discoveries in different parts of the country. Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) made a discovery in August in Sanghar district of Sindh, having a flow of 23 mmcfd gas and 91 bpd oil.
In September, the PPL found an oil deposit with an initial flow of 313 bpd in Chakwal district of the Punjab province.
While the same company struck two back to back discoveries in the current month (December 3 & 4) in Sanghar and Sajawal districts of Sindh with a flow of 18.6 mmcfd gas and 160 bpd oil, and nine mmcfd gas respectively.
Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) made a find in September in Kohat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, having the preliminary flow of 1.3 mmcfd gas and 550 bpd oil.
Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL) also contributed a discovery in September in Kachi district of Balochistan province with a flow of 1500 bpd oil.
United Energy Pakistan Limited (UEPL) made five successful drills, one was in Tando A Yar district of Sindh in September under which it found oil deposit having initial flow of 1056 bpd, second and third were in Tando M Khan district of Sindh in October with 6.3 mmcfd and 9.5 mmcfd gas flow respectively, while fourth and fifth were also occurred in Sindh province in October and December with 9 mmcfd and 31 mmcfd gas flow respectively.
Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL) recently discovered an oil reserve in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with an initial flow of 27 bpd. OMV Maurice, an E&P company, discovered gas deposit in Ghotki district of Sindh in September with a flow of 6.48 mmcfd. – Compiled by Aryan Ahmed.