Crude oil production in the major oil-producing province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has decreased by almost 34 percent during the last three and a half years of the PTI government and has gone down to 33,000 BPD from the earlier 50,000 BPD.
Similarly, no significant addition was made to the gas production in the province during the incumbent government, and as of February 2022, the raw gas production in KP was 415 MMcf/d, according to official documents available with ProPakistani.
As per the official estimates, KP has proven reserves of 1.1 billion barrels of oil and 16 trillion cubic feet of gas but instead of increasing the production is on the reverse side.
In 2018, out of the total production of 92,000 BPD crude oil across Pakistan, the share of KP was approximately 50,000 BPD, which was more than 50 percent. In 2018, the provincial crude production used to hover above 50,000 BPD, which has now dropped to 33,000 BPD and is roaming between 33,096.11 BPD and 33,447.72 BPD, the document reveals.
Interestingly, the provincial government was planning to enhance the production of crude oil from 50,000 barrels per day (BPD) in 2018 to 200,000 barrels per day (BPD) by 2025. Similarly, it was also planned to increase the gas production from around 450 MMcf/d to 2,000 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of gas.
Currently, 13 fields, operated by MOL and OGDCL in the province, are producing Crude oil and natural gas, which is decreasing with each passing day, the official documents said. The main reason, according to the provincial government officials, is the non-serious attitude of the Federal Government, Petroleum Division, and Directorate General of Petroleum Concession (DGPC) towards exploration activities in the country, which is not only affecting the production of oil and gas in KP but across Pakistan.
Similarly, there is no fresh investment coming to the existing oil and gas fields. The progress on new exploration activities is also very slow in the provinces, the source said.
