KARACHI�The government of Pakistan granted a petroleum exploration license to a joint venture of operator Pakistan Petroleum Ltd. (95%) and Pakistan government holdings (5%) for Karsal block 3272-8, which covers 625.26 sq km in Chakwal district in Punjab province. The block was awarded Monday through a competitive bidding process.
The joint venture intends to make an investment of about $7.2 million in acquiring 60 km of 3D seismic data and drilling one exploration well during the initial 3-year term.
PPL is Pakistan's premier exploration and production company. It made the first giant gas discovery at Sui. Apart from Sui and Kandhkot gas fields, PPL operates three joint ventures for Adhi, Manzai, and Block 22 concessions. It has working interests in nine other joint ventures, Miano, South West Miano, Qadirpur, Gambat, Tal, Khanpur, Yazman, Pasni, and Gawadar.
PPL has production of around 800 MMcfd of gas and 2,800 b/d of oil.
An official statement said PPL has authorized capital of 400 million Pakistani rupees ($7 million) and annual sales of about 5 billion rupees (about $90 million).
