Oil & Gas Development Company Limited has set up a separate Directorate for establishing joint ventures with private sector to accelerate the pace of oil and gas exploration in the country.

This was said by Shah Mahboob Alam, Managing Director, OGDCL while addressing the business community at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

He said industry is providing life blood to the economy and all possible measures will be taken to meet its energy needs by exploiting more and more oil and gas reserves.

Highlighting the activities of his company, he said OGDCL is the biggest exploration company with largest reserves and exploration share of oil & gas in the country and is producing 40 fields of oil & gas.

He said OGDCL has 25% share in total exploration in Pakistan while it has 54% share in oil reserves and 35% in gas reserves in the country. The company is contributing about US$ 1-billion to the national exchequer, which shows its significance to the national economy, he added. He said OGDCL is evaluating many option to go international as well.

In his welcome address, Zahid Maqbool, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) said that the industry is badly suffering due to energy shortage and OGDCL should enhance exploration of oil & gas reserves to meet the rising energy needs of the country.
He said frequent increase in POL products puts highly negative impact on industrial activities and Chambers should be taken on board while considering such decision to save trade and industry from further damage.

He said despite having great potential, Pakistan is still an under-explored country in oil & gas areas because as per international standards 10 wells should be drilled per 1000 kilometers in sedimentary areas while in Pakistan, only 2 wells are drilled per 1000 K.Ms. It should be improved to catch up with international standards of exploration, he stressed.

Representatives of renowned foreign E&P companies Dr Elmar Colins, General Manger of OMV and Mr. Janos Feher of MOL also spoke on the occasion and shed light on current situation of oil & gas exploration activities as well as its future prospects for the country. Mr. Masood Abdali of Weatherford also highlighted E&P promotion activities in the country.

Karim Aziz Malik, Vice President, ICCI presented his vote of thanks while Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari, VP ICCI was also present in the meeting.