Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar has said that natural gas resources are depleting by 10 percent every year and efforts are underway to discover new reserves of oil and gas in the country to meet the increasing demand.
The minister said this while addressing a ceremony on Monday, wherein the government executed five petroleum concession agreements and exploration licences with the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL).
Hammad said that these efforts will bear fruits for the country in the form of additional hydrocarbon reserves during the next few years. The minister said the execution of the exploration licences and the petroleum concession agreements will not only enhance investment in the petroleum sector but will also contribute in bridging the energy demand and supply gap.
The exploration licences and petroleum concession agreements were signed by Dr Arshad Mahmood, secretary of the Petroleum Division, Abdul Jabbar Memon, director general of the Petroleum Concessions, on behalf of the government of Pakistan, and Shahid Saleem Khan, managing director of the OGDCL.
The government executed the petroleum concession agreements at Elsover Block No 3372-26 (Hazro); Block No 2972-7 (Vehari); Block No 2972-8 (Sutlej); Block No 2668-23 (Khewari East); and Block No 3471-1 (Nowshera).
Hazro Block, covering an area of 653.74 sq-km is located in Attock district, Swabi, Haripur while Vehari Block, covering an area of 2,487.28 sq-km is located in Bahawalpur district, Vehari and Lodhran and Sutlej Block, covering an area of 2,312.56 sq-km is located in Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Vehari and Khanewal.
Khewari East, covering an area of 1,451.53 sq-km is located in Khairpur district. Nowshera Block, covering an area of 1,711.06 sq-km is located in Charsadda, Mardan, Swabi and Nowshera.
The minimum firm work commitment for these blocks is $13.32 million for the period of three years. The companies are obligated to spend a minimum of $30,000/annum in each block on social welfare schemes. The annual social welfare obligation in respect of these five blocks is $150,000.
The OGDCL is a public limited company engaged in exploration and production activities in the country for the last five decades. It holds the largest share of oil, 41 per cent and gas, 36 percent of the total reserves in the country. Its percentage share of total oil and gas production in Pakistan is 47 per cent and 29 per cent, respectively.
The OGDCL is the operator of 46 exploration licences and working interest owner in seven other exploration blocks operated by various E&P companies. It is currently producing 36,058bpd of oil, 1,023 mmscfd of gas, 778 tonnes of LPG and 51 tonnes of sulphur per day.
