ISLAMABAD: Oil and Gas Exploration and Production (E&P) companies haveplanned to drill 90 wells in different areas of the country in the nextfiscal year.
“Under the plan 50 exploratory and 40 development wells will be drilled ina bid to make the country self-sufficient in the energy sector,” officialstold APP.
Answering a question, they informed that the present government had addedmore than 944 million cubic feet per day gas and 32,343 barrels per day oilin the transmission network across the country through indigenous resourcesduring its first four years.
They said Pakistan witnessed exceptional growth in petroleum sector duringthe period of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government under thebold and dynamic leadership of Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.
To another question, they said the E&P companies drilled over 179exploratory and 194 appraisal wells, resulting in around 101 newdiscoveries in a period of four years, which is almost 80 percent higherthan the finds made during four years of the previous government.
They said 68 finds, out of total 101 discoveries, had added proven reservesof about 5.4 tcf gas, while the calculation of 33 wells, yet to bedetermined. As many as 87 finds have been made in Sindh, seven each inPunjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The government, they said encouraged the E&P companies by providing themmaximum incentives to step up exploration activities in different areas.
Following which, oil and gas exploration activities registered increase by80 percent with 40 percent success rate, drilling of appraisal anddevelopment wells 12.8 percent, discoveries 151.3 percent, 2D and 3Dseismic surveys by 37.2 percent and 43.1 percent respectively, oilproduction 29.8 percent, drilling in meterage 52 percent, grant ofexploration licenses and leases by 39.4 percent and 200 percentrespectively as compared to corresponding years of the previous government.- APP