KARACHI: Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) has signed a gas sale agreement with Central Power Generation Company Limited (CPGCL) also known as GENCO II for sale of up to 200 MMscfd gas with 72.5 percent ‘Take or Pay’ commitment, from its solely-owned and operated Kandhkot Gas Field (KGF) to GENCO II’s Guddu Thermal Power Station (GTPS), District Kashmore, Sindh. The agreement, signed by PPL MD & CEO Syed Wamiq Bokhari and CPGCL CEO Muhammad Ayub Ansari formalizes the increased gas supply from KGF which PPL committed to the Government of Pakistan (GoP) in September 2016. In addition to gas sale to GENCO II, PPL is also selling up to 50 MMscfd gas to Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited which is also supplied to GTPS. To fulfil its commitment to GoP, PPL embarked on an aggressive drilling and development programme to achieve the extraordinary feat of delivering the near-impossible target of scaling up gas sales from around 140 MMscfd in financial year 2015-16 to 230 MMscfd by May 2017. Six development wells were drilled in record 9 months through multi-rig operations which also led to the discovery of sweet spots in a mature field thus enhancing field capacity of gas by 90 MMscfd which is being delivered to GTPS. Besides, two compressor units were added and production facilities were debottlenecked. Looking ahead, three development wells are planned to be drilled this year to maintain the production plateau. Previously, during an event hosted by PPL on October 7, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had formally marked the exceptional improvement in production from KGF. PM Abbasi was highly appreciative of the remarkable endeavor by PPL for increasing gas production ahead of schedule to contribute towards meeting the demand for power generation, resulting in foreign exchange savings of USD 250-300 million on gas import. Photo Caption: Pakistan Petroleum Limited MD & CEO Syed Wamiq Bokhari and Central Power Generation Company Limited CEO Muhammad Ayub Ansari (third and fourth right) sign the Gas Sales Agreement for Kandhkot on October 23, 2017 in Islamabad. Staff from both companies were also present on the occasion. Published in Daily Times, October 25th 2017.