Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Petroleum Nadeem Babar on Sunday announced that the government will auction 20 new oil and gas exploration blocks next month as part of its strategy to achieve self-reliance in the energy sector.
In an interview to a foreign TV channel, Nadeem Babar said Pakistan, in collaboration with Russia will also start building a 1,100-kilometer gas pipeline to transport the commodity from Karachi to Lahore.
Nadeem Babar said Pakistan, which imported its first cargo five years ago, currently had two Liquefied Natural Gas terminals. He said two more LNG terminals are expected to start in the next few years.
The SAPM said that the country has also decided to import cleaner Euro-5 diesel from next month.
Earlier on November 13, Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) had announced to discover new reserves of oil in Balochistan.
According to the PPL, new oil reserves had been found in Balochistan’s Ziarat district.
The PPL had further said it started extended well testing on November 9 and extracting approximately 800 barrels of oil per day. The agreement for exploration of the oil from the well had been signed with Attock Refinery by Pakistan Petroleum Limited.
