Islamabad: In the National Assembly session, PPP leader Nafisa Shah presented a notice calling attention to oil and gas reserves in Pakistan and said that US President Donald Trump has identified large reserves in Pakistan in his recent statement but the government has not given any explanation on this, the public wants to know what is the reality.
In response, Federal Minister for Petroleum Ali Pervez Malik told the House that the President, Prime Minister and military leadership are congratulated on the recent successes, Pakistan is cooperating in the search for mineral reserves with the help of the United States. He said that after a long time, permission has been given to drill in 13 blocks offshore in April, while in the next phase, oil and gas will be explored in another 23 blocks, on which an investment of 20 to 25 million dollars is expected.
The Federal Minister said that companies from Turkey, China, Kuwait and the United States have submitted applications for onshore drilling in Gwadar, on which final decisions will be taken by October. He further said that a tight gas assessment was conducted in Pakistan in 2009, according to which the country has a potential of 30 to 35 TCF of tight gas, while southern Pakistan, especially Sindh and Balochistan, has 95 TCF of gas reserves. So far, a total of 85 TCF of gas has been discovered in the country.
