ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday signed agreements to issue new licenses for oil exploration in the country, the ministry of petroleum said, with the projects aimed at attracting investment and meeting growing energy requirements.
“Government of Pakistan today [Thursday] executed Petroleum Concessions (PCAs) and Exploration Licences (ELs) of critical Blocks in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan,” the ministry of petroleum said in a statement.
The statement quoted Omar Ayub Khan, Federal Minister for Petroleum, as saying the agreements, signed in Islamabad, were part of the incumbent government’s reform agenda and efforts to attract investment in the petroleum sector.
The exploration blocks are located in the province of Sindh and Balochistan and involve the Oil and Gas Development Company and Pakistan Petroleum Limited.
“The minimum firm work commitment for these blocks is US $ 13.61 million for a period of three years,” the statement said. “The companies entering into agreements today [Thursday] would be obligated to spend a minimum of US $ 30,000/year in each block.”
Last month, the consortium exploring the Kekra-1 well off the coast of Pakistan ended drilling operations after no reserves of oil and gas were found, said a spokesman for Oil and Gas Development Co. Ltd, one of the Pakistani partners, along with Italy’s ENI SpA and Exxon Mobile Corp.
News that the project was abandoned came as a blow to the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan which had pinned high hopes on offshore oil and gas discoveries to help with both the country’s chronic energy deficiencies and its ballooning trade deficit.
Pakistan is believed to have rich mineral resources, with conventional gas reserves estimated at 20 trillion cubic feet (tcf), or 560 billion cubic meters, and shale gas reserves, which are so far untouched, at more than 100 tcf.
The government is planning to offer dozens of new gas field concessions, hoping that improved security in recent years will reassure foreign investors who have been deterred in the past by the threat of militant violence.
Pakistan has been under mounting pressure to shore up its creaking energy infrastructure, both to provide more reliable supplies of oil and gas to its growing population of more than 200 million and to cut reliance on expensive foreign imports.
The country recently signed an accord for a $6 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund that helped send its rupee currency to an all time low and highlighted the need to cut import bills.
Pakistan issues new licenses for oil exploration in Sindh, Balochistan provinces
Pakistan issues new licenses for oil exploration in Sindh, Balochistan provinces
- Petroleum minister says new deals part of government's reform agenda, efforts to attract petroleum investment
- Pakistan has been under mounting pressure to shore up its creaking energy infrastructure
Pakistan says it is targeting militant infrastructure in Afghanistan as Kabul threatens to hit Islamabad
- Ata Tarar says Pakistan is carrying out ‘precise intelligence-based operations’ to avoid civilian casualties
- Afghan defense minister says the underlying dispute between the two sides is over the ‘Durand Line’ border
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Saturday it was conducting intelligence-based operations against militant infrastructure inside Afghanistan while attempting to avoid civilian casualties, as a senior Afghan Taliban official warned Kabul could retaliate by targeting Islamabad if Pakistani forces struck the Afghan capital.
The escalating rhetoric comes as cross-border fighting between the two neighbors intensifies following clashes that began last month when Afghan forces launched attacks on Pakistani military installations along the frontier. Kabul said the assault was retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes targeting what Islamabad called militant camps inside Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s defense minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said last week the situation had effectively become “open war” between the two countries.
“Pakistan is only targeting terrorist infrastructures and support system with precise intelligence based operations ensuring no collateral damage takes place,” Pakistan’s Information Minister Ataullah Tarar said in a statement.
He challenged the recent claims made by an Afghan defense ministry spokesperson earlier this week who said his country was making significant battlefield gains against Pakistan including the killing of 109 soldiers and the capture or destruction of 14 military posts in large scale attacks.
“These so called attacks by Afghan Taliban in coordination with FAK [Fitna Al Khawarij] Terrorists once again confirm the nexus of Afghan Taliban regime and multiple terrorist organizations operating from within their territory,” Tarar continued. “All such attempts are responded to, immediately and effectively with severe retributive punishment that is swift, precise and effective.”
“The imaginary numbers being floated by Afghan Taliban regime are however not worth any serious comment,” he added.
Tarar said Pakistan’s military campaign — described as Operation Ghazb Lil Haq — had inflicted heavy losses on Afghan Taliban forces.
According to figures shared by the minister, 527 Taliban fighters had been killed and more than 755 injured since the clashes began, while 237 check posts were destroyed and 38 captured and destroyed. He said 205 tanks, armored vehicles and artillery guns were destroyed and 62 locations across Afghanistan had been targeted by air strikes.
Arab News could not independently verify the claims made by either side.
CIVILIAN CASUALTIES
Earlier this week, the United Nations raised concern over the toll of the escalating conflict on civilians.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk said on Friday that 56 Afghan civilians — nearly half of them children — had been killed since hostilities between Pakistan and Afghanistan intensified.
However, Tarar questioned the UN findings, saying its assertions appeared to rely heavily on information provided by Taliban authorities and did not adequately reflect independently verified intelligence.
“Pakistan categorically reiterates that all counter-terrorism operations conducted by its security forces are carried out with the highest degree of precision, professionalism, and responsibility,” he said.
Islamabad has long accused the Taliban government of allowing militant groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), to operate from Afghan soil, a charge Kabul denies.
“Operations are meticulously planned so that civilian areas remain completely safe,” the minister said. “The locations targeted are remote terrorist hideouts and facilities far removed from populated zones, including sensitive areas such as Kabul’s Green Zone.”
AFGHAN WARNING
Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s Defense Minister Mullah Yaqoob issued a warning to Pakistan in remarks circulated by Afghan broadcaster TOLOnews.
“If Kabul lacks peace, there will be no peace in Islamabad. If Kabul is attacked, Islamabad will be attacked,” Yaqoob said in a promotional clip of an interview shared on social media.
Yaqoob rejected Pakistan’s justification that the presence of the TTP in Afghanistan warranted military action and suggested the underlying dispute was over the contested “Durand Line” border between the two countries.
So far, there has been no official response from Pakistan to Yaqoob’s remarks.
