MOL announces second gas find in one week

It has taken total number of discoveries in Tal block to nine out of 15 wells

KARACHI: Fresh from the discovery of gas last week, MOL Pakistan has announced another find in the same Tal block in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, according to a bourse filing on Thursday.

Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL), also a stakeholder in the block, reported to the Pakistan Stock Exchange that they had found gas reserves in a newly tested well, Tolanj West-01, in the block.

“...the well has shown a flow of 7.48 million standard cubic feet (mmscf) of gas per day,” said POL Company Secretary Syed Khalid Nafees in the notification.



Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) and Government Holdings (Private) Limited are other stakeholders in the block.

Following the announcement, POL and PPL stocks inched up whereas OGDC closed slightly down at the Pakistan Stock Exchange.

A market analyst said in a post-market note that PPL and POL gained on the back of the new discovery.

The well is currently going through the cleaning process, after which its stimulation through acid wash is planned to determine the true potential. KASB Securities analyst Muhammad Fawad Khan said in a note the announcement of two back-to-back discoveries in the Tal block was positive news for POL as they would add to the current production base of the company.

“It also results in Rs2.5-3/share upside to our base-case estimates and removes a major overhang on earnings from potential exploration cost write-off ahead of important FY16 results announcement.”

The latest discovery of gas reserves has taken the total number of finds from the Tal block to nine out of 15 wells (56% success ratio).

“We now see a relative slowdown in exploration activity in the Tal block as the operator, MOL, shifts focus more towards field development in Makori East and Maramzai and appraisal activity in recent finds (including Mardankhel).”

Last Friday, MOL Pakistan, the operator of Tal block, informed joint-venture partners that Makori Deep-01 had tested 2,020 barrels per day of crude oil and 5.4 mmscf of gas per day.



With the time for commissioning of production from Mardankhel-I drawing closer and likely addition of flows from the recent find at Makori Deep, the brokerage house added the near-term production outlook for POL was positive.

“Altogether, we eye 4,500 barrels per day of oil and 45 mmcfd of gas production from Mardankhel, which will likely add Rs6-7/share to POL,” said the KASB Securities analyst.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2016.

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