Plan for offshore oil exploration unveiled: Dawn

SINDH is the largest producer of oil and gas with 72 per cent of gas and 57 per cent of oil production in the country.

Efforts are being made to explore and exploit more onshore and offshore reserves of oil and gas in the province. The government is also planning a new hydrocarbons policy with more incentives for domestic and foreign investors.

The ministry of petroleum and natural resources has signed a number of joint exploration and production sharing agreements (EPSAs) for offshore oil exploration in the Arabian Sea touching Badin, Karachi and Thatta.

The Arabian Sea was declared as Zero Zone which comprised of Indus North, Indus X, Indus Y and Indus Z. Approximately an area of 4,170sq km was given to different multinational companies including British Petroleum (blocks U, V, and W in Indus Delta), ENI (blocks M, N and C), PETRONAS ,with partners like TOTAL 40 per cent, OMV 30 per cent, MGCL 10 per cent and subsidiary PETRONAS Carigali Pak Ltd, Tullow and OGDCL (blocks G and H.). It was claimed that an investment of $3.19 million is envisaged during the first two years of the project, but no official estimates of the blocks’ reserves have been released.

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