{"id":32429,"date":"2026-05-26T16:17:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T16:17:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=32429"},"modified":"2026-05-26T16:17:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T16:17:27","slug":"pakistan-resumes-offshore-oil-gas-exploration-after-two-decades-eyes-1-billion-investment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=32429","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan resumes offshore oil, gas exploration after two decades, eyes $1 billion investment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><em>Initial phase to draw $82 million investment across the Indus and Makran offshore basins<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em><strong>Pakistan hopes offshore push aims to reduce dependence on imported fuel<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pakistan has resumed offshore oil and gas exploration after nearly two decades, the petroleum ministry said on Wednesday, as Islamabad seeks to reduce dependence on imported fuel and revive interest in its underexplored maritime energy resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pakistan remains heavily dependent on imported oil, gas, and liquefied natural gas to meet its energy needs, leaving the country vulnerable to global price shocks and foreign exchange pressure. Offshore exploration has remained limited for years because of high drilling costs, technical risks, security concerns, and repeated unsuccessful attempts to find commercially viable reserves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pakistan\u2019s last major offshore push was the ultra-deepwater Kekra-1 well in 2019, drilled by a consortium including ExxonMobil, ENI, Oil and Gas Development Company Limited, and Pakistan Petroleum Limited, but the well was later declared dry. The country\u2019s offshore basins, particularly the Indus and Makran basins, are still considered underexplored compared with many regional energy frontiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPakistan has resumed offshore oil and gas exploration after nearly two decades,\u201d the petroleum ministry said in a statement after Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik attended a signing ceremony for production-sharing agreements and exploration licenses under Offshore Bid Round 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ministry said $82 million would be invested during the first three-year phase of the licenses, which would include seismic data acquisition, processing and geological and geophysical studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf exploration progresses to drilling during Phase Two, total investment is expected to reach nearly $1 billion,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The government approved 23 offshore blocks covering 54,600 square kilometers under the bid round, located in the Indus and Makran offshore basins near the coastal areas of the Sindh and Balochistan provinces.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Agreements for two blocks, Offshore Deep-C and Offshore Deep-F, were finalized at the Prime Minister\u2019s House on Dec. 2, 2025. The petroleum ministry said the signing of 21 additional production-sharing agreements had completed the contractual framework for Offshore Bid Round 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSigning the offshore oil and gas exploration agreements is a historic milestone in the government\u2019s energy policy,\u201d Malik said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe government is committed to reviving offshore exploration, promoting investment and reducing dependence on imported fuel &#8230; These agreements reflect investor confidence in Pakistan\u2019s offshore oil and gas potential.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mari Energies, one of Pakistan\u2019s largest private exploration and production firms, secured 18 of the 23 blocks as operator and five as a joint venture partner, while state-run Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) were allocated eight exploration blocks, including two as operators. Prime Global Energies, a local exploration company, was awarded one block as operator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">United Energy Pakistan Limited and Orient Petroleum Incorporated are among other joint venture partners participating in the projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ministry said companies had also made commitments toward social welfare and capacity-building projects in the coastal regions of Sindh and Balochistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Malik said the government would provide a \u201cstable, transparent and investor-friendly environment\u201d to support sustainable development of domestic energy resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reference Link:- <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2644273\/pakistan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2644273\/pakistan<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pakistan has resumed offshore oil and gas exploration after nearly two decades, the petroleum ministry said on Wednesday, as Islamabad seeks to reduce dependence on imported fuel and revive interest in its underexplored maritime energy resources. Pakistan remains heavily dependent on imported oil, gas, and liquefied natural gas to meet its energy needs, leaving the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[2076,6690,29446,27224,29447,483],"class_list":["post-32429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sample-category","tag-economy-2","tag-energy-3","tag-off-shore-exploration","tag-oil-gas-reserves","tag-oil-and-gas-exploration","tag-pakistan-2","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32429"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32431,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32429\/revisions\/32431"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}