Pakistan’s PPL to create artificial island to ramp up oil & gas exploration: report

Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), one of the country’s leading energy companies, is reclaiming land from the sea to create a launch pad, which will allow the company to accelerate oil and gas exploration, reported Bloomberg on Wednesday.

As per the report, the artificial island will be located 300km (190 miles) off the coast of Sindh, PPL’s General Manager Exploration and Core Business Development, Arshad Palekar, told the international media outlet on the sidelines of an oil and gas conference in Islamabad.

“Planned with a height of six feet, the platform will prevent high tides from interrupting round-the-clock exploration work,“ he said.

The PPL official shared that the project, a first for Pakistan, builds on Abu Dhabi’s experience, where artificial islands for drilling have been successfully built.

He shared that the island construction will be completed in February, and the operation will start immediately after.

Last month, PPL announced a strategic partnership with Turkish Petroleum Overseas Company (TPOC), a subsidiary of Turkiye’s national oil company TPAO, under the farm-out process of the Eastern Offshore Indus C Block.

The partnership was aimed at boosting offshore exploration and strengthening Pakistan-Turkiye energy cooperation, the E&P said back then.

Pakistan’s oil and gas sector is a vital part of its economy, though it faces a significant domestic supply-demand gap, particularly for oil. However, in recent months, the government has ramped up efforts to explore new avenues.

Last month, the South Asian nation awarded 23 offshore exploration blocks to four consortia led by local energy companies, some partnered with foreign firms including TPAO.

In Pakistan’s first such bidding round in nearly two decades, its Energy ministry was bidding for 23 of 40 offshore blocks offered, covering around 53,500 square kilometres.