Daily Times

The government has so far released an amount of Rs649.908 million to execute seven ongoing and six new petroleum-related projects under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP 2021-22) aimed at accelerating oil and gas exploration activities and achieving self-sufficiency in the energy sector.

According to the official data as of July 16, an amount of Rs649.908 million has been authorised/disbursed out of the total allocation of Rs3,249.54 million for 13 petroleum sector projects.

As per the PSDP document, funds amounting to Rs1,473.683 million had been earmarked for seven ongoing schemes, out of which Rs263 million were meant for establishment of National Minerals Data Centre (NMDC), Rs345.321 for expansion and up-gradation of Pakistan Petroleum Core House (PETCORE), Rs30 million for geological mapping on 50 toposheets, out of 354 unmapped toposheets of outcrop area of Balochistan province, Rs385.336 million for strengthening and up-gradation of Karachi Laboratories Complex (KLC) at HDIP Operations Office, Karachi, Rs76.580 million for the supply of 13.5 MMCFD gas at Doorstep (Zero Point) of Dhabeji Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Sindh, Rs230 million for the supply of 30 MMCFD gas at Doorstep (Zero Point) of Rashakai Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and Rs143.446 million for up-gradation of POL testing facilities of HDIP at Islamabad, Lahore, Multan, Peshawar, Quetta and ISO Certification of Petroleum Testing Laboratory at Islamabad.

Similarly, for six new schemes, the government had earmarked Rs1,775.857 in the PSDP, out of which Rs40 million were kept for development of Strategic Underground Gas Storage (SUGS) – hiring of consultancy services for bankable feasibility study and transaction advisory services (PC-II), Rs30 million for legal consultancy services for drafting of Model Mineral Agreement and updating of Regulatory Framework (Federal and Provincial Minerals/Coal Departments) prepared by mineral wing, petroleum division, Rs40 million for Pakistan National Research Programme on Geological Hazards (Earthquakes and Landslides) – data acquisition along active faults and identification of potential landslides hotspot zones, Rs73.447 million for the supply of 10 MMCFD RLNG to Bostan Special Economic Zone, Rs149.410 million for the supply of 13 MMCFD RLNG to Bin Qasim Industrial Park and Rs785 million for the supply of 40 MMCFD gas/RLNG to Allama Iqbal Industrial City Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Faisalabad.