KARACHI, Aug 30: An oil company working in the Khirthar National Park has informed the Sindh Wildlife Department (SWD) that it has decided not to work on the environmentally sensitive crest of Kambhu mountain, it is learnt.

According to the sources, the company wanted to start work on the crest of the Kambhu mountain, but the SWD had raised concerns over the location saying that the mountain was very sensitive from the wildlife point of view.

SWD conservator Muneer Awan had maintained that Kambhu mountain was a habitat to a large number of endangered wildlife species such as the Sindh Ibex, the urial and the chinkara and working there would be harmful to those rare wildlife species.

The department had also directed the oil company — PKP, Premier Kufpec Pakistan, which is a joint venture of the Premier Oil Overseas BV and the Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company — to follow the laid down prescribed procedure without which the well site could not be changed.

The PKP chief Patrick Bird has now written a letter on the subject of “Exploratory Well on Kambhu Prospect, Decision to drop the Crestal Location” informing the SWD of the oil company’s decision not to work on the crest of the Kambhu mountain.

Mr Bird says: “Although the eastern location presents significant technical and drilling challenges, we have decided to drop the crestal location in view of the environmental sensitivities and concerns raised by the SWD.”

The federal government had awarded the Dumbar block, which comprises the Khirthar National Park and its adjoining wildlife protected areas, to the Premier Oil for oil and gas exploration. The oil company is already carrying out its drilling activities in the protected areas.