KARACHI: Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) has announced discovery of hydrocarbon-bearing horizons in its exploratory well Jand no. 1.

In a filing with the stock exchange on Thursday the oil and gas exploration and production giant declared: “This is the 102nd discovery and a significant landmark achievement.” The well was stated to be located in district Attock, Punjab province, in Dakhni M.L. with OGDCL as the 100pc operator.

The company observed that the structure was delineated, drilled and tested using OGDCL’s in-house expertise. “The well was drilled to the depth of 6,050 metres targeting to test the hydrocarbon potentials of Sakessar, Chorgali, Nammal, Patala and Lockhart formations,” the company stated.

The hydrocarbons were found at Jand no. 1. Sakessar and Chorgali formations were tested jointly delivering 10.60 mmcfd (million cubic feet per day) gas and 21 barrels per day (bpd) condensate through 32/64-inch choke at wellhead flowing pressure of 1780 PSI (pounds per square inch).

Oil and gas sector analyst Shahid Ali at brokerage Summit Capital commented that as per their calculation, the discovery would have an annualised earnings per share (eps) impact of Rs0.20 per share on OGDCL. “This is the fourth significant oil and gas discovery announced by the company from beginning of FY15,” he said.

However, another senior analyst at a different brokerage house assumed that the discovery was relatively “quite small” and may not make significant impact on the company’s financials.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2014