A Polish oil and gas company, PGNiG, would drill 14 exploration wells in hydrocarbon potential areas during the current year.

“The company has planned to step up its exploration and production activities and take the business volume to Rs 100 billion per year,” officials in the company told APP.

They said the company, operating in Pakistan since 1997, would play an important role in meeting Pakistan's growing energy needs.

Before acquiring the current Kirthar Concession (Block 2667- 7) lies in Dadu district of Sindh, they said, the company operated and carried out exploration activities in four other Concessions namely Khanpur West, Sabzal, Mekhtar and Sabzal South; the Kirthar area and Lasbella in Balochistan zone-III.

They said Rehman Gas Field was discovered in the Kirthar Block in 2009 which started production in 2013. “This was the first- ever gas produced from a “Tight Gas” reservoir in Pakistan,” they claimed.

In 2015, the officials said, the company discovered the Rizq Gas field which was the second Tight Gas Field in Kirthar Block and commissioned the Rehman Production Facility with a capacity of processing up to 40 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscfd) gas.

“PGNiG doubled its production from the Kirthar block when gas from Rizq Gas Field was added to the national grid in November 2016, which helped to reduce the increasing demand-supply gas for natural gas in the country,” they remarked.

Two more development wells have been planned at the already mature Rehman Gas field, an appraisal well on the new Rizq gas Field and an exploratory well to test a potential prospect in the northern side of the block.

They said the company has so far invested more than 125 million dollars in Pakistan, adding that current daily production from the Rehman field stood at 24 mmscfd from four producing wells, which would be increased up to 90 mmscfd gas with full field development.

The officials said the increase in production requires advanced technologies (horizontal wells, multiple transverse hydraulic fracturing, etc) for which an investment of more than $ 300 million would be made.

“PGNiG is in active pursuit to increase its footprint in the Pakistani's upstream oil and gas sector and is also interested to develop the shale gas deposits here,” he remarked.