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Striking black gold: Man digs for water, finds oil in Bahawalpur
Chinese company working on discovery with local engineers.
Chinese company working on discovery with local engineers.
BAHAWALPUR:
When landlord Muneer Ahmed ordered the digging of a well in Bahawalpur, the last thing he expected to strike was black gold.
Following the discovery of oil near the Lal Sohanra National Park, the area was taken into custody by the ministry of petroleum and natural resources. The ministry also deputed security officials around the well and its surrounding areas.
A joint team of Pakistani and Chinese engineers has been formed to work in the area, said an official from the petroleum ministry. A large oil reservoir has been discovered but we are trying to locate its depth, the official said.
He added that engineers are also studying other areas in district Bahawalpur to check the availability of oil in the region.
The property where oil was found had been part of agricultural land donated to farmers, said Hassan Daha, former mayor from the area.
The land, however, is under the jurisdiction of Lal Sohanra National Park, he added.
Ahmed, who made the inadvertent discovery, said he was not aware of it earlier but has now been informed by officials that the area where the discovery was made did not fall in his property. The China National Petroleum Corporation has been tasked to work, in coordination with local engineers, in the area.
Meanwhile, the site has been cordoned off with barbed wire on the orders of local police chief Ishaq Jehangir.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 22nd, 2012.
Reader Comments (28)
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Technical feedback? webmaster@tribune.com.pk
Yes . Instead of giving compensation to Farmer for discovery.
Like always Govt Liars Jumped-in with their claims. Actually No land in PAKISTAN is your property but it LEASED and can be withdrawn any time. This is the law written by our Masters( U.K)
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now there will be calls for separating bahawalpur from pakistan just like in balochistan when all the mineral wealth was discovered was discovered there.
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Poor guy, lost his land to the “black gold”. Little did he know that Government Vultures already sniffed what was valuable and even proved him that the land he’s been taking care for so long was not his property.
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Good !!
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Let us know when they find out that the guy actually drilled into an underground oil pipeline.
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Pakistan is rich in natural resources all we need is to utilize them but our corrupt and incompetent leaders have no interest in it, although they can get huge corrupt money from these projectsRecommend
Now China will take over!
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If you go to las Angeles it’s the same. You will see many many people have these oil drills in back of their gardens by Govt. as they dug for a water well and discovered Oil. Earmark has the ultimate rights to the land. We don’t give any taxes to Govt. but when struck oil start claiming our RIGHTS. We are a STRANGE NATION.
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@Saud: hahaha…so naive! How do you know there are underground oil pipelines running in the middle of a farm in Bahawalpur? Just amazing how some people can spew rubbish on these pages.
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i hope they(you know who) are not reading this.
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Yes, it seems China is getting more and more involved in our natural resources
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Such news should always be kept higly confidential. Everyone knows the consequences of letting this news reach some of the most evil people in the world who congregate in Washington.
Even the American citizen dreads those powerful evil men of Washington, but cannot do anything about it. The American people made their biggest mistake. They forgot to organise themselves to have Democracy.
Democracy as we all know is by the people, of the people, for the people.Recommend
At last Pakistan will be as rich as Saudi Arabia !! Pakistan Zindabad !!!
Now we can give aid to AMERICA and ask them to DO MORE !!
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I think if i need to get my blood tested in Pakistan, i would need to take the permission of the Chinese Ministry ;) ;), Cant you guys even test whether the thing this farmer dug out is oil , water or something else ?
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Errrr…its a discovery in a national park. Any drilling is illegal, then again, when has that stopped anyone.
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Forget about a Bahawalpur province. Takht-e-Lahore will never let go of Bahawalpur now. Oil will become a curse for Bahawalpur like gas is to Baluchistan.
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@Nadeem:
Chine knows we are idiots. We will give China copper and marble and will be happy to get junk JF-17s in return which no one including China has any interest in.
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Slowly slowly pakistan will be colonized by chinese companies. They are already dumping their cheap products here.
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Govt should pay enough amount to muneer ahmed for his honesty..
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why create such a fuss. we,ll get cheap oil and bahawalpur people would chirp a little with fuller bellies and heavier pockets
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Sonhi dharti Allah rakhay qadam qadam abad tujhay. (Ameen)
Please don’t be doubtful about Chinese intention. Countries are inter-dependent. Saudi oil was discovered and extracted by the American.
I wish Saudis come to work in Pakistan and we call them “Rafiq”
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If it is true then oil sitting so close to the ground and nobody ever did any scientific or geological servey? instead of WMD we need more exploration of our own natural resources. The accidental discoveries are good but not the real answer to poverty.Recommend
muneer, now you buy another land and drill even more oil reserves…
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Pakistan NEEDS more water …OIl will fuel more corruption and bring “wealth” to our “ELITE”…the westoxicated riffraff.
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as per human law, natural resources are property of the state. muneer monopoly or pakistan monopoly defines the issues
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But why Ministry of Petroleum took the site in custody? Is not like after the according to 18th amendment in constitution natural resources are owned by provinces? May be I am wrong but this is my perception.
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Told ya we are Arabs!
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Oh No! When land leaks oil it means not many days left for water in soil.
Shaikh of Bahawalpur will ask for his mining rights now!
In the end the question will be asked:
If I can survive on my own why do I have to put up with your attitude?
Punjabis, if want resources of non-Punjabis they now have to recognize their rights before using Army from the center or they not only loose that resource, they might loose a piece of sustaining land or the country too.Recommend