ISLAMABAD - The Energy ministry has responded over the news of the discovery of huge oil reserves in Pakistan.
Officials have negated caretaker foreign minister’s tall claim of discovering huge oil reserves reportedly bigger than Kuwait’s in Pakistan near the Iran border by US energy giant Exxon Mobil, sources said
The energy ministry has negated the tall claim made by the caretaker Minister for Maritime Affairs and Foreign Affairs, Abdullah Hussain Haroon that the US energy giant is ‘close to discovering’ oil reserves bigger than Kuwait in Pakistan.
They said neither a license for oil and gas exploration was awarded to Exxon Mobil nor the American multinational oil and gas company is currently engaged in the drilling of an exploratory well. Drilling work on the first-ever offshore block located near to Karachi is scheduled to start in January 2019, said sources.
The sources also said that the caretaker foreign minister has given an irresponsible statement on a sensitive matter which needs inquiry as it has added problems for the ministry, intelligence forces and concerned departments. Foreign minister’s statement contained exaggerated figures and it has made a seism movement in the petroleum sector, sources added.
Addressing business leaders at the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), Haroon on August 4 said that Exxon Mobil is close to discovering huge oil reserves in Pakistan near the border with Iran, and those reserves could even be larger than the oil reserves of Kuwait.