Report on Kekra-I offshore drilling within 3-4 weeks: Omar Ayub

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Energy Omar Ayub Khan on Friday said that the report on any discovery of energy reserves at Kekra-I offshore drilling site will come within three to four weeks, ARY News reported.

Speaking during the question hour in Senate, Ayub said that the offshore drilling for oil and gas has been underway at Kekra-I site near Karachi.

Replying a question the minister said the drilling has currently reached to 4,800 meters and
the well will be drilled up to the total depth of 5,660 meters in ultra deep waters.

It is to mention here that a delegation of Exxon Mobil informed Omar Ayub Khan in a recent
meeting that the company was hopeful of finding energy resources at Kekra-I site.

The delegation was headed by Alex Volkov, chairman of LNG Market Development Exxon Mobil.

Exxon Mobil President Irtiza Syed briefed the minister about the status of offshore drilling at Kekra-I that started in January 2019. He added that Exxon Mobil is also interested in the drilling of more offshore blocks.

Drilling has now entered in its final phase where it will be easy to ascertain the presence of oil or gas deposits.

Recently international energy research agency Rystad Energy in a report said that the Eni-led Kekra project for oil and gas reserves in Pakistani waters is among three highly prospective wells in the world.

The research agency in its report on the prospective new discoveries of energy resources said that Kekra well in Pakistan have pre-drill prospective resource estimates of 1.5 billion barrels of oil or equivalent.

A group of multinational companies had started offshore drilling in January for exploration of oil and gas.

A major drilling ship, “Mother of All Rigs” along with three supply vessels started the drilling at the site.

The companies are drilling Kekra-1 well in Indus-G block, which is located some 280 kilometres away from the Karachi coast.