Pakistan granted seven new exploration licenses to local and foreign companies at the end of last month.
Five were issued to a joint venture of Orient Petroleum Inc. (95%) and state-owned Government Holdings (5%) and two to a JV of Oil & Gas Development Co. Ltd. (95%) and Government Holdings (5%).
The Orient-led JV secured exploration rights to: Khewari Block No. 2568-3, 1,625 sq km; Sinjhoro Block No. 2568-5, 2,351 sq km; Khipro Block No. 2568-6, 2,246 sq km, Mirpurkhas Block No. 2568-7, 3,335 sq km; and Mehar Block No. 2767-1, 5,030 sq km. The first four blocks are in Sindh province, and Mehar 2767-1 is in Balochistan.
OGDCL secured exploration rights on Block No. 2568, a 9,327 sq km area in Hyderabad district, and on Karam Khel Block No. 3371-4, a 390 sq km area in Karak and Mianwa* districts, Punjab.
Concession agreements have been signed on all seven blocks. Orient also executed an agreement to transfer to OGDCL its entire working interests in Khewari block and a 76% interest in Sinjhoro block, along with operatorship of both blocks.
Further details on the accord were unavailable.
All blocks were awarded through a competitive bidding process.
The Orient-led JV plans to invest $70.2 million on an exploration program comprising seismic surveys and drilling of 30 wells during the initial 3-year term. The OGDC group has a minimum work obligation to shoot seismic and drill five wells in the first 3 years; the minimum allowable expenditure for the work is $24.3 million.
