ISLAMABAD: Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL) said on Thursday that the company has embar-ked upon drilling of Halini Deep-1 and Kalabagh-1A well in search of oil and gas reservoirs in the area.

A company’s press release said both wells are being drilled together by its own 2,500HP and newly-acquired 1,500HP rigs in search of hydrocarbons at unprecedented depths of over 5,600 metres of Eocene, Paleocene and Cretaceous reservoirs.

The encouraging hydrocarbon potential in the area is likely to lead to sizeable oil and gas reservoirs, which will help in mitigating the day-to-day increasing demand of energy in the country.

Karak Block was granted to MPCL on April 14, 2005 over an area of 2,335 square km located in Karak, Lakki Marwat and Bannu Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Mianwali District of Punjab.

MPCL holds 60pc working interest as an operator, while MOL holds 40pc working interest in the block.

Considering the complex and challenging subsurface geology and related technical complications, the company took a decision to drill a high risk Halini-1 well down to a depth of 5,350 metres, which ranks amongst the few wells drilled to such depth in Pakis-tan’s exploration history.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2015

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