ISLAMABAD - Pakistan on Monday signed petroleum concession agreements (PCAs) for issuance of exploration licences (ELs) in six blocks with five exploration and production (E&P) companies.
In the exploration phase, the minimum investment of $65 million will be carried out by the E&P companies for prospecting in these six blocks in three years. In the first phase, the PCAs for the issuance of exploration licences (ELs) have been signed between the federal government and exploration companies, while in the second phase PCAs for development & production will be signed with these companies.
The PCAs for ELs were signed by Capt. (Retd.) Muhammad Mahmood, Additional Secretary (Incharge) Petroleum Division, Kashif Ali, Director General Petroleum Concessions, Muhammad Aslam Umrani, Provincial Director (Balochistan) and Tariq Rashid, Provincial Director (Punjab) on behalf of Government of Pakistan. While Khalid Siraj Subhani, Managing Director (MD) OGDCL, Imran Abbasy, MD, PPL, Fahim Haider, MD/CEO, MPCL, Mausaf Ahmed, President, UEPL and Shuaib A. Malik, CEO, POL signed the PCAs on the behalf the their respective companies.
The government has executed petroleum concession agreements (PCAs) for exploration licences (ELs) over Block No. 2966-2 (Chah Bali) with joint venture of Oil & Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) (operator) (70%) and Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL) (30%). On Block No. 2967-5 (Mach) and Block No. 2867-6 (Dadhar) with joint venture of Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL) (operator) (40%), Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) (30%) and United Energy Pakistan Limited (UEPL) (30%). For Block No. 2866-5 (Kalat West) and Block No. 2869-15 (Sui North) with joint venture of PPL (operator) (50%) and MPCL (50%) and Block No. 2969-11 (Meeranpur) to UEPL (operator) (50%) and MPCL (50%).
Blocks Chah Bali, Mach, Dadhar and Kalat West are located in the province of Balochistan whereas Sui North Block and Meeranpur Block are located in Balochistan and Punjab. The total area of these blocks is 9901.37 Sq.Km. The minimum investment to be carried out by the companies in these blocks for prospect will be $65 million for the period of three years. Companies are obligated to spend a minimum of $30,000/year in each block on social welfare schemes. OGDCL is a public limited company engaged in exploration & production activities in the country for the last five decades. OGDCL holds the largest share of oil 33% & gas 34% of the total reserves in the country. Its percentage share of total oil & gas production in Pakistan is 47% and 29%, respectively.
Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) has been in the energy sector since the mid-1950s. As a major supplier of natural gas, PPL today contributes over 19 percent of the country’s total natural gas supplies besides producing crude oil, NGL and LPG. Mari Petroleum is one of the leading integrated E&P companies in Pakistan, with a net hydrocarbon production of 104,856 barrels of oil equivalent per day. With a 23% market share, the company is the second-largest gas producer in Pakistan and has a strong reserve base of around 600 million BOE.
POL is producing cumulative daily production of 4,057 barrels of oil equivalent. POL is the operator in nine development & production leases, four ELs and working interest owners in six other exploration blocks operated by various E&P companies. United Energy Pakistan Limited (UEP) is a subsidiary of United Energy Group (UEG), an international energy Company. UEP is the largest foreign oil and gas E&P company operating in Pakistan. UEP contributes 14 percent of Pakistan’s total gas production