PPL discovers tight gas in Sindh

Further evaluation needed to determine the size and commerciality of the discovery

KARACHI: Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) has announced that it has discovered tight gas reserves in its exploration well Hadi X-1A in Sanghar district of Sindh.

“Post Frac - a process to stimulate production in oil and gas wells - results suggest that it is a tight gas discovery,” it said in a statement on Friday.



Tight gas is natural gas produced from reservoir rocks with such low permeability that massive hydraulic fracturing is necessary to produce the well at economic rates.

PPL said flow rates had improved significantly. “The well showed a flow of 0.85 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, thus confirming the presence of natural gas.”



However, it added, further evaluation was needed to determine the size and commerciality of the discovery, based on post-well studies and their integration with the geological, geophysical and engineering data collected during drilling and testing of the well.

Hadi X-1A was drilled on February 5, 2016 and it reached the final depth of 4,020 metres on April 19.

Based on logs interpretation, potential hydrocarbon-bearing zones had been identified in the Sembar Formation. During initial testing, immeasurable amount of gas flowed at the surface for three days and it appeared to be a tight gas reservoir.



PPL is the operator of Gambat South Block in Sanghar district with 65% working interest. Government Holdings Private Limited and Asia Resources Oil Limited are joint venture partners in the block with working interest of 25% and 10%, respectively.

The announcement of the gas discovery was made in the first half of trading session at the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday. The share price of PPL fell Rs0.46 and closed at Rs169.27 with a volume of 939,700 shares. 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 16^th, 2016.

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