CAPITAL: Islamabad

MONETARY UNIT: Rupee

REFINING CAPACITY: 143,350 b/cd

OIL PRODUCTION: 53,600 b/d

OIL RESERVES: 208 million bbl

GAS RESERVES: 21.6 tcf

Pakistan`s Petroleum Minister Nisar Ali Khan said in mid-1999 that the country had attracted about $1.2 billion in energy investment in the preceding 20 months.

"The exploration of oil and gas in the country was at an all-time high because of the incentives given by the government," he said.

Khan said 36 exploration agreements were signed in the period, during which there were also several major gas discoveries.

He said Pakistan expected to add 4-6 tcf of gas reserves from 13 discoveries.

A government survey estimated Pakistan`s recoverable gas reserves at 17.39 tcf with an average production of 1.92 bcfd.

Khan said the government was trying to augment gas reserves at Sui in Baluchistan province, where reserves had been reduced to 3 tcf from 9 tcf. He said deeper drilling would increase the reserves 1 tcf.

The Pakistan planned to sell shares in companies where it did`t own a majority stake as part of its broader privatization plan of state-run petroleum companies.

The three companies are Mari Gas Co. Ltd., Pakistan Oil Fields Ltd., and Attock Refinery Ltd.

Pakistan in 1997 said it aimed to raise $8 billion from the sale of stakes in more than 20 state-run companies.

Upstream

Oil & Gas Development Co. Ltd. (OGDC) had an oil and gas discovery in Kohat, North West Frontier province, on the Shakardarra exploration license, which covered 943 sq km in Punjab and North West Frontier.

Chanda 1 was drilled to 4,850 m TD and flowed 1,223 b/d of 41°-gravity oil and 5.19 MMcfd of gas through a 1/2-in. choke with 1,550 psi flowing wellhead pressure. Meanwhile, Sui Southern Gas Co. Ltd. agreed to buy gas from Miano field, 35 km north of Kadenwari gas field in Sindh province.

Miano was owned by OMV Pakistan Exploration GMBH, British Borneo Exploration & Production Ltd., Oil & Gas Development Co. Ltd., and Pakistan Petroleum Ltd.

Miano development costs were expected to total $500 million, and reserves were estimated at 270 bcf of gas. A 35-km pipeline would connect Miano to a gas processing plant at Kadenwari. Miano was due to begin producing 80 MMcfd in mid-2001.

Elsewhere, OGDC discovered oil and gas in the Sadqal area, 45 km south of Islamabad near Fateh Jang.

Well No. 5 flowed 2,500 b/d of 40°-gravity oil and 18.5 MMcfd of gas through a 1/2-in. choke with 4,600 psi flowing tubing pressure. The well was drilled to 3,678 m and cut Eocene Margalla Hill limestone at 3,543 m.

Premier Exploration Pakistan Ltd. had a gas discovery at the Zarghoon South 1, about 40 km east of Quetta. The well was drilled to 2,172 m and flowed on test at a rate of about 16.7 MMcfd. Government officials estimated the area`s potential gas resource at 5 tcf. Lasmo Oil Pakistan Ltd. was working to develop the Bhit gas project 170 km northeast of Karachi.

Bhit had 0.6-1.9 tcf of reserves. Lasmo was considering supplying treated gas to the existing Sui Southern pipeline transmission system between central Pakistan to Karachi through a planned 275 MMcfd line.

Development was expected to include a gas processing plant to remove water and CO2 and recover nitrogen. Pakistan Petroleum Ltd. and partner Pyramid Energy Inc. tested their Hasan X-1 discovery. The Block 22 wildcat flowed at 55 MMcfd about 3 miles from Sui`s pipeline. The firms had another Block 22 discovery, Hamza X-1, drilled in 1998. Production was expected in 2000.

Other activity

Pak-Arab Refinery Co. Ltd., a joint venture of the Pakistan and Abu Dhabi governments, planned to commission an $886 million refinery at Mahmood Kot, near Multan City, Punjab province, by September 2000.

The 100,000-b/d refinery would bring Pakistan`s total distillation capacity to 228,000 b/d. Domestic oil production was estimated at 59,000 b/d against demand of 325,000 b/d, government officials said.

The government owned 60% of the plant. The International Petroleum Investment Co, a wholly owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co held the rest.

The refinery would allow Pakistan to export up to 110,000 tonnes of naphtha in 1999-2000, a more than 37% increase from usual exports.

In association with the refinery project, the Cabinet Committee on Investment awarded Pak Arab Refinery the White Oil pipeline project, an 800-km pipeline that would stretch from Karachi to Mehmood Kot. The contract was awarded on a build, own, and operate basis.

In a separate project, a group led by Singapore investor Brian Chang was considering building a 50,000-b/d refinery near Karachi. The Ministry of Petroleum had invited the proposal.

Chang`s firm already had substantial investment in Pakistan, with a 10% share in IPP Hubco, a 24% stake in Asia Pipelines, and a 34% share in the Fauji Oil terminal.

Meanwhile, Pakistan`s Attock Refinery Ltd. completed a $54 million upgrade of its 30,500 b/d refinery at Rawalpindi.

The upgrade included the addition of a 10,000-b/d vacuum distillation unit and a 5,000 b/d catalytic reformer. The upgrade added 5,000 b/d of high-octane gasoline capacity and 10,000 b/d of heavy crude oil processing capacity.

An explosion in October 1999 on two of the three main pipelines supplying gas to Faisalabad killed 13 people and injured 35 others. The explosion occurred on Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd. lines about 1.5 km from Toba Tek Singh. Ten workers had been repairing the lines.

Habibullah Coastal Power Pte. Co. started up its 140-Mw gas-fired power plant near Quetta in western Pakistan. Electric power was sold to Pakistan Water & Power Development Authority. Gas was supplied by Sui Southern.