It is not a secret that Pakistan is highly deficient in
indigenous energy products. Import of crude oil and POL products eats up
billions of dollars every year. On top of that extensive gas and electricity
load shedding keeps capacity utilization of industrial units below optimum
capacity utilization. The prevailing situation demands accelerating activities
of exploration and production (E&P) companies. Pakistan meets around 12
percent of its oil requirement from indigenous resources.
The state owned largest E&P, Oil & Gas
Development Company (OGDC) claims it is making extra efforts and one tends to
agree with the statement partially. Its latest announcement says that the
Company has achieved a record production of 50,172 barrels per day (bpd) of
crude oil. By international standard the number may look dismal but for
Pakistan it looks enormous, 57 percent of the country’s total crude oil
production estimated around 88,000 bpd.
The information disseminated indicates that the Company
is all set to inject about 4,000 barrels of additional oil per day, 100 million
cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of gas and 400 tons of liquefied petroleum gas,
starting with fewer quantities in the first week of December and then gradually
going up. This addition would come from Kunar Pasakhi Deep field in Sindh which
had been held up due to disputes and court cases.
