Pakistan discovers huge oil and gas reserves after nine months of exploration

Islamabad, Ta. Thursday 16 July 2020

Pakistan has got new oil and gas reserves. The treasure has been discovered in the Mamikhel well of the Tal block in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. According to a popular Pakistani newspaper, the new reserves will reduce Pakistan's dependence on imports to meet its energy needs. This will also reduce the cost of importing to Pakistan.

Pakistan Oilfields Limited said in a notification issued to the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Tuesday that testing of oil and gas wells has revealed that it has the capacity to produce 3240 barrels of oil and 16.12 million standard cubic feet of gas per day.

Pakistan produced 85,000 barrels of oil per day in March 2020. However, Pakistan can only meet 80 per cent of its oil needs through imports. Pakistan produces less than 4 billion cubic feet of gas per day while its requirement is 7 billion cubic feet. Pakistan is also dependent on imports to meet gas demand.

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Pakistan imports 9. 9.8 billion to meet its energy needs, which is about one-fourth of its total imports. Pakistan imported a total of .8 40.86 billion from July 2019 to May.

According to the brokerage house, excavation of Mamikhel South-01 was started in October 2019 and excavated to a depth of 4939 meters on 23 May 2020. After which the hydrocarbon deposit was reported.

About a year ago, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed hope that Pakistan would have Asia's largest oil reserves. Imran Khan said that the country's fortunes would change if these huge treasures were found in Pakistan. However, no oil deposits were found in the Kekra-1 field even after excavations to a depth of more than 6000 feet.