Asia

Pakistan Fails to Find Oil or Gas Reserves, Stops Offshore Drilling - Reports

Earlier, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said that the country would no longer need to import oil if crude reserves were found in its territorial waters.
Sputnik

Pakistan has drilled at 17 different offshore locations in its search for oil, but all of them were fruitless, according to the Dawn media outlet.

The drilling was initiated around four months ago and Pakistani authorities were confident of finding oil and gas reserves in their territorial waters in the Arabian Sea.

International companies such as Exxon Mobil, Italy's ENI and others were involved in drilling.

READ MORE: Pakistani Oil Find May Have Meaning For Entire Region

"Based on previous data the prospects were high and at the start of drilling the chances of success were between 13 and 15 per cent, which is fairly good," Pakistan Petroleum Limited and the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) spokesman Ahmed Lak said, as quoted by the News18 media outlet.

"Among the highest prospects of finding the hydrocarbon reserve is 20 per cent, therefore, our record was good enough to proceed with drilling," he added.

Around $100 million has been invested in the drilling project, according to the Pakistani official.

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