KARACHI: Pakistan on Saturday officially announced that its much publicized offshore drilling in the Arabian Sea at Kekra-1 failed to yield huge oil and gas reserves, as joint venture partners including US exploration giant ExxonMobil decided to plug the well and abandon the operation.
According to a ministry of petroleum press release, after four months of drilling to 5,492 meters, the log results showed “a good quality reservoir but unfortunately water wet without any gas effect.”
The official announcement came just hours after Prime Minister Imran Khan told the country to expect good news regarding the discovery of huge energy deposits off the Karachi coast.
“It is possible that we could find such a massive gas reserve that Pakistan would never have to purchase gas from outside,” Khan told an audience in Peshawar on Saturday evening, amid news that gas tariffs in the country would be increased by 47%.
The drilling, which had received months of political hype, was Pakistan’s 17th attempt at hitting oil and gas reserves and cost $100 million. Officials of the petroleum division maintain that the data received from the drilling will be useful for future exploration in the region.
In May 2018, ExxonMobil bought a 25 percent stake in offshore drilling in Pakistan, and hopes for the discovery of large reserves was first kindled in August 2018 when the then caretaker minister for maritime and foreign affairs, Abdullah Hussain Haroon, said the country was expected to hit reserves even bigger than Kuwait.
It was estimated that if oil deposits were discovered as expected, Pakistan would be among the world’s top ten oil-producing countries.
