ISLAMABAD: The newly installed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is set to revise the Petroleum Policy 2012 amidst high hopes of finding oil and gas reserves in the country.
And the government will also announce an incentive package for oil and gas exploration entities interested in working in the frontier region, reports Express Tribune.
According to officials, the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division) would bring all provinces on board during a meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) and seek go-ahead for the creation of one more zone to enable offering incentives to oil and gas exploration entities in the frontier region.
And the Petroleum Policy 2012 would also be revised alongside it, said, officials.
At present, three zones for onshore exploration activities based on risk and investment are in existence which includes Zone-I constituting of west Balochistan, Zone-II comprising of Kirthar, east Balochistan, Punjab and Suleman basins and Zone-III includes the lower Indus basin.
The well-head gas price for Zone-I is $6.6, Zone-II $6.3 and in Zone-III is $6 per million British thermal units (mmbtu), under the latest policy.
Under the Petroleum Policy 2012, an incentive package is available for onshore areas taking risk and investment requirements into consideration.
The Petroleum Division was approached by the Pakistan Petroleum Companies and Production Companies Association (PPECA) and apprised that a limited and unexplored area of Kharan, Pishin and FATA in zone-I had the promise for hydrocarbon reserves and could have 21 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of hydrocarbons.
PPECA highlighted only three wells had been drilled till now and said including frontier areas required higher prices and additional incentives due to unusually higher investment.
Hence, PPECA asked the government to create a new zone-1 (F) in this regard.
The officials told the Petroleum Division agreed to this recommendation of creating a new frontier zone constituting of Kharan, Pishin and Fata and proposed the producer gas price to be what has been set for the offshore Zone-O.
Zone-O offshore shallow prices under the Petroleum Policy 2012 have been set at $7 per mmbtu for hydrocarbons found in this area by oil and gas exploration companies.
To fully reap the benefits of hydrocarbons, the Petroleum Division proposed the government could offer this price for the new frontier zone in the revised policy.
