Pakistan’s oil production increases 11% in January

Stood at an average 96,553 barrels per day

KARACHI: Pakistan’s oil production has grown by 11% to 96,553 barrels per day in January with addition of new oil fields in recent months, according to a brokerage house report released Tuesday.

Oil production had stood at an average 87,048 barrels per day in January last year, according to Topline Securities.

The surge in production came “from Nashpa and Mardan Khel fields which added around 7% and 4%, respectively to January 2017’s oil production,” the brokerage house analyst, Nabeel Khursheed, said in a note to clients.

“Further, improved flows from Adhi and Rajian fields cumulatively elevated production by 4%,” he said.



The oil and gas exploration and production companies played a major role in finding new oil deposits in the country, in addition to the remaining three companies; Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC), Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL) and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL).



OGDC, which owns the largest oil reserves in the country, saw an increase of 16% in production, POL’s production rose 20% and PPL’s generation grew 22% in the single month on a year-on-year basis.OGDC and PPL hold 56% and 26% stake, respectively, in Nashpa fields.

In Mardan Khel fields, POL and PPL hold 28% stake each, while OGDC holds 21%.

“We also saw improved flow from Kunnar Pasaki Deep (KPD) in which OGDC holds 100% stake (added 1,700 barrel per day additional oil in January 2017). We highlight here that KPD has yet to add around 4,000 barrel per day of oil, expected in couple of weeks,” the analyst said.

On the contrary, the year ended December 31, 2016 saw a cumulative drop of 5% in oil production, he noted.



Flat gas production

On the other hand, gas production remained almost flat at around 3,933 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd), “as absence of any major addition and natural depletion of existing fields continue to disappoint producers,” he said.

OGDC’s gas production fell 4% on year-on-year basis in January 2017, mainly on the back of lower flow from Qadirpur, Kadanwari and Bhit and Bhandra. POL’s gas production grew by 11% primarily due to 12mmcfd addition to the company’s portfolio from from Mardankhel.

PPL’s gas production rose by 10% in the month.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2017.

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