Oil & Gas exploration: KP government opens six dormant blocks

The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has opened six blocks for oil and gas exploration, including Marwat, Kohat, Goragulto, Wali, Latamber and Paharpur. These blocks had been dormant for the last 10 years. Out of 28, twenty-seven blocks are now active in rich hydrocarbon province of the country. During the last four years, the province has become the most attractive for the E&P national and multinational companies engaged in exploring hydrocarbon in various areas, providing job opportunities to the people.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is producing 50 percent of oil, 15 percent of natural gas and 25 percent of LPG of total per day output of the country. The crude oil production which was 30,000 bpd in 2013 increased to 53,000 bpd till 2017. The KPOGCL joint venture has also discovered 30 mmcft natural gas and 700 bpd oil recently in Baratai block which would help meeting the energy requirement of the country and save precious foreign exchange on imported oil.
To explore, harness the natural resources and overcome the energy crisis, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Oil and Gas Company Limited is working on number of projects on fast track basis in order to accelerate exploration and production activities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The KPOGCL is in fact a facilitator to all E&P activities and act as "one window operation" for promotion of exploration activities in the province. Two oil refineries with capacity of 40,000 bpd and 15,000 bpd are being set up in Kohat and Karak which would cater to the requirement of the country.
Similarly the number of drilling rigs becomes double compared to the previous regimes which have ultimately enhanced production. Due to this double figure of production and drilling activities, the province received maximum shares on royalty, production bonuses, CSR obligations funds and training funds for the betterment of the masses of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The KPOGCL vision and mission is to increase KP oil production up to 200,000 bpd, gas production up to 2,000 MMCFD and LPG production up to 3,000 tons per day through operatorship, joint venture partnerships, facilitation of international & national investors, one-window facilitation for security and E&P services.