Law & order mars E&P sector exploration programme

KARACHI - Adverse law and order situation of the country continues to weigh heavily on the FY11 exploration programme of the E&P sector. According to the experts, the sector has been able to drill only 20 exploratory wells during 11MFY10 far below the full year target of 48 and no exploratory well was drilled in Balochistan, while only 2 wells were drilled in KPK. Considering historic success ratios of 20 percent and 33 percent respectively of said provinces, present situation is indicative of under-exploration of hydrocarbon reserves. One off-shore well Shark-1 was also drilled during the period, taking the total offshore drill count to 2 alongside 14 attempts all declared dry. The remaining 17 wells were all drilled in Sindh. Amongst the listed companies, OGDC spudded 8 exploratory wells, while PPL and POL relied solely on their JV partners. A total of 11 discoveries were struck during the year, translating into an impressive success ratio of 55% during 11MFY10 above countrys historical average of 29%. However, on account of skewed exploration program towards high drilling density province Sindh, the average discovery size was a mere 450bpd and 8.4mmcfd of gas. Amongst the individual companies, OGDC made 5 discoveries while also benefited from its working interest 28% in Maramzai. On the other hand, POL made one discovery Bela while also having working interest 21% in Maramzai. PPL made no discovery of its own but benefited from Naspha 26% and Maramzai 28pc. Out of the above mentioned discoveries, Khasheli Downtrown-1, Naspha-1, Baqar Deep-1 and Bela-1 have entered EWT phase. With exploration program marred with security concerns, the sector focused maximizing returns from the existing fields. During 11MFY10, the sector drilled 38 wells against the full year target of 52 wells. Province-wise breakup reveals that 25 wells were drilled in Sindh, 7 in Punjab, 4 in Balochistan, while only 2 were spudded in KPK. All the 4 wells drilled in Balochistan are part of Uch Developmental Plan associated with Uch Power Plant. The two wells drilled in KPK are in Tal block Manzalai-08 and Makari-03. Currently, Manzalai field has 7 operational wells, while the operator aims to drill 11 wells in total.