ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Oil and Gas exploration companies operating in different parts of the country made 75 discoveries after 281 drills in the last three years.
“Following the discoveries, 580 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) gas and 25,000 barrels per day (BPD) Crude Oil production has been added to the system, while the highest crude oil production – 100,000 BPD was achieved on December 7, 2014,” official sources in Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources told the state-run news agency.
They said the domestic production had increased to 90,000 BPD, while there were imports of 400,000 BPD.
The refining capacity has been enhanced to 11 metric tonnes per annum (MTPA) whereas the consumption was 23 MTPA.
They informed that Pakistan was facing a huge gap between demand and supply of energy.
Currently, its total gas production was four billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) against the demand of eight bcfd of gas, adding that the oil production stood at 10,000 barrels per day, while its requirement was seven to eight times high than the production.
The government, they said, was taking solid measures to meet the country’s growing energy need, for which it had enhanced monitoring of Exploration and Production (E&P) activities besides acquiring 17,864 LKm of 2D and 14,233 Sq.Km of 3D seismic survey to identify new prospects.
The sources informed that during the above mentioned period, 46 new exploration licences, covering an area of 94,608.85 Sq. Kms, had been awarded to accelerate exploration activities in the country.
The ministry’s drive against non-performing oil and gas exploration companies was continuing and it had recently issued notices to 18 more inactive licence-holders for their failure to start exploration work as per agreement, the sources disclosed.
“More inactive licences will be revoked shortly after completing all formalities,” they added.
The government is making all-out efforts to pave way for exploration of unconventional resources like “Tight Gas”, Shale as and Low BTU gas etc.
They said, other measures to minimize the gas shortfall included import of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), projects to import gas through pipelines from Iran and Turkmenistan besides promotion of LPG air mix.
The ministry is facilitating oil and gas companies with incentives under the Petroleum Policy-2012 to expedite exploration activities, the sources concluded.
