Pakistan on the verge of becoming a major oil producing country

Mr. Hussain mentioned that ExxonMobil, the US-based energy company, is on the verge of discovering huge oil reserves close to the Pakistan-Iran border, which may be even bigger than Kuwait?s reserves.

The minister said this while addressing?Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPC

ExxonMobil has currently drilled up to 5000 meters near the Iranian border and is thoroughly optimistic about the oil reserve discovery.

Top 10 Oil Producers in The World

If the reserves do turn out to be as massive as expected, it will put Pakistan among the top 10 oil producing countries, at the 6th position above Kuwait.

Currently, Kuwait possesses 8.4% of the world?s oil reserves and claims that they have nearly 101.5 billion barrels of crude oil. The country also owns 2.5 billion barrels in the Saudi-Kuwaiti neutral zone.

Govt?s Stance

Mr. Hussain said that the government has already forged an agreement with ExxonMobil for a $10 billion ?generation complex?. He said,

They are also putting up an LNG berth at Port Qasim, the second seaport in Karachi. They have already paid for the drilling rights in Pakistan.?Pakistan is providing a level playing field to foreign investors and they are interested in coming to Pakistan. What we need to do is to meet their standards and attract them to make investment.

ExxonMobil made the headlines earlier in May 2018, when the company acquired a 25% stake in offshore drilling in Pakistan. The agreement was inked?at Prime Minister?s Secretariat between?Oil and Gas Development Corporation, Government Holding Private Limited?PPL and Eni.

Could Substantially Reduce Our Import Bill

It should be noted that most of Pakistan?s import bill is based on oil imports. The country only manages to meet 15% of its demand through locally produced crude oil, which is around 22 million tons, while the other 85% is imported.

Current account deficit for Pakistan stands at $18 billion. Pakistan?s imports stood at $12.928 billion in the July-May 2017-18 period for the last fiscal year.

This discovery alone has the potential to solve one of the biggest problems Pakistan currently faces.

We?ll have to wait and see if ExxonMobil?s prediction actually pans out. .. Source

2 thoughts on “Pakistan on the verge of becoming a major oil producing country

  1. This oil deposit was discovered by a Canadian survey company way back in 1976, but at the special request of the Shah of Iran to not dig for oil there as Iranian oil deposits would be adversely affected, then Prime Minister ZA Bhutto shelved the project.

  2. After reading Irfan Ahmad’s comment I was reminded of 1976. Indeed in 1976 a Canadian firm was hired to carry out aero magnetic survey of the Balochistan area bordering Iran. The survey was carried out for one month in an equipment fitted Canadian Aero Commander Aircraft with two Canadian pilots and a specialist surveyor. I as a young Flight Lieut was deputed to fly with them as a security check pilot. The survey continued for one month. In informal times the crew would tell me that there were positive signals of presence of oil in the surveyed belt. After my duty concluded, I returned to my squadron and never heard about the results of the survey again. Now the latest news reminds me of that time.

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