By an OGJ correspondent
KARACHI, June 6 -- Pakistan has granted two petroleum exploration licenses to Pakistani independent Petroleum Exploration (Pvt.) Ltd. (PEL): No. 352/PAK/2005 over the 2,425.96 sq km New Larkana district in Sindh Province and No. 326/PAK/2005 over the 724.42 sq km Karsal area in Punjab Province.
PEL has committed $5 million to an exploration program that will include drilling three wells and acquiring 160 km of seismic.
New Larkana, north of the Khairpur-Kandra structure on the northeastern slope of the Khairpur-Jacobabad High, contains a number of potential reservoir rocks ranging from Chiltan limestone to Cretaceous sandstone (Lower Goru-Pab-MoghalKot) to Eocene carbonates (Sui Main limestone).
Karsal, in Chakwal District, is in an active Himalayan frontal fold and thrust belt in the northern part of the Indus basin. The fractured carbonates in the Eocene Chorgali and Sakesar formations Paleocene Lockhart formation age are the most productive reservoirs in the Potwar basin. The Late Permian Chidru formation and Early Permian Tobra formation are secondary targets.
