Daily Times

Pakistan is a highly promising and rewarding market for oil and gas sector and investment in energy sector of the resource-rich province of Balochistan can reduce oil and gas import bill, revive industry and provide jobs, a business leader said on Saturday.

Gas reserves are rapidly depleting while load management of gas has been hitting industrial sector calling for more investment in the oil and gas exploration, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) presidential candidate Daro Khan Achakzai said.

He said that Balochistan is rich in oil and gas resources, contributing to the total national output of natural gas while it offers great opportunities in oil and gas exploration for local and foreign investors.

Balochistan is home to the largest gas field known as Sui; discovered in 1952, it is still an important gas field in the country, he added.

FPCCI’s Daro Khan Achakzai said that law and order situation has hampered local and foreign investment in the province for years but now the situation has improved calling for action.

He said that imported gas is costly which hit foreign exchange reserves and leaves export industry struggling in the international market against rivals, therefore, local gas for industries, power generation, fertiliser production and agriculture is required.

The country needs investment in modern drilling technology to explore indigenous oil and gas reserves without which pace of national development will remain slow, he said.

The business leader said that oil and gas resources of Balochistan can change the fate of the country for which the attention of the federal government and substantial investment is required.

FPCCI Coordination Chairman Malik Sohail Hussain said that according to the United States Energy Information Administration, Pakistan may have over 9 billion barrels of petroleum oil and 105 trillion cubic feet in shale oil and natural gas reserves.

Published in Daily Times, November 25^th 2018.