The deep sea oil drilling underway at Kekra-1 is almost 95% complete according to sources. It is expected that Exxon Mobil the US company undertaking the oil drilling will achieve its target depth of 5500 meter by the start of June 2019.
Sources close to the matter have confirmed that depth of 5200 meters have been achieved already. It is important to note here that all previous 17 offshore exploration attempts have been unsuccessful with the last one dating back to 2010.
According to the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA), Pakistan may have over 9 billion barrels (1.4×109 cubic metres) of petroleum oil and 105 trillion cubic feet (3.0 trillion cubic metres) of natural gas (including shale gas) reserves. The success rate in high risk deep-water frontiers averages 10-15 percent globally but the success rate of drilling at Kekra-1 is as high as 20 percent.
According to Chairman Board of Director OGDCL Dr Qamar J Sharif “The success ratio of discovery in Pakistan is one success out of three drilled wells contrary to other countries where this ratio is 1 to 10 wells,”
The main issue delaying the matter has been the geographic location of Pakistan. All over the world the average time to drill an on shore well with a depth of about 10,000 feet (3048 meters) is about in 4 to 6 weeks. But in Pakistan it takes about 24 to 28 weeks because Pakistan’s geological formations are relatively more challenging to drill.
Menu
