ISLAMABAD: The government on Friday received 23 bids, most of them from its own entities, for 40 offshore blocks it offered for exploration, according to an official announcement.

“Bids were received for 23 offshore blocks, covering a total area of approximately 53,510 square kilometres,” the Petroleum Division said in a statement. “Among the successful bidders are Pakistan’s leading national companies, Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (OGDCL), Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (PPL), Mari Energies Ltd (MEL) and Prime Energy Ltd (PML),” it added.

Earlier this month, the government received only one bid for 23 onshore exploration blocks, submitted by Mari Energies — a company jointly owned by Fauji Foundation, the government, and its other entities.

The Petroleum Division termed the bid results as “encouraging, reflecting strong investor confidence in Pakistan’s upstream sector” and in line with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s vision for energy security and enhanced indigenisation.

It said that important international and private-sector partners, such as Turkish Petroleum, United Energy, Orient Petroleum, and Fatima Petroleum, also joined the above bids as joint venture partners, ‘underscoring growing international interest in Pakistan’s offshore potential’.

Most bids come from state-run firms for 40 blocks, with Turkish Petroleum joining Pakistan’s renewed offshore drive

The petroleum ministry did not disclose the number of bids from each company or for different blocks, and Dawn’s requests for further details were declined.

The exploration attempts by leading international firms like Shell and ExxonMobil in Pakistan’s offshore blocks remained unsuccessful, the latest by a consortium led by ExxonMobil about five years ago, despite the availability of promising hydrocarbon data.

Before initiating the process, the Petroleum Division developed a Model Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA), a key document integrated into the bid package, to ensure transparency, competitiveness, and investor confidence. In parallel, the Offshore Petroleum Rules were promulgated to provide a comprehensive regulatory framework, paving the way for renewed offshore exploration in Pakistan’s waters.

A recent basin study conducted by the US firm DeGolyer and MacNaughton (D&M) has indicated a significant yet-to-find potential of hydrocarbons in Pakistan’s offshore basins. Building on this encouraging assessment, the Offshore Bid Round 2025 was launched to offer blocks that enable companies to undertake systematic exploration to test various geological plays across both the Indus and Makran basins.

The statement said the bids were publicly opened transparently on October 31 by the Bid Opening Committee, chaired by the Director General Petroleum Concessions (DGPC), in the presence of representatives from the provincial governments of Sindh and Balochistan, the two coastal provinces hosting the offshore areas. The Offshore Bid Round 2025 was launched in January this year, after a 18-year gap, to grant petroleum exploration licenses for 40 offshore blocks.

The petroleum division said a total of 4,427 work units have been committed for these 23 blocks during Phase 1 of the initial three-year license period, representing an investment of approximately $80 million.

The companies have submitted work programmes designed to progressively mitigate geological risks, and, in the event of exploration drilling, investments could reach $750m to $1bn, it said.

During Phase 1, the companies will undertake comprehensive geophysical and geological (G&G) studies, including seismic data acquisition, processing, and interpretation, to better define the hydrocarbon potential of Pakistan’s offshore basins. Upon completion of these studies, the Phase-II work programme will be finalised, including the drilling of exploratory wells in the prospective areas.

The statement said the government strategy to initiate exploration in both the Indus and Makran basins simultaneously paid off, as reflected in the participation and outcome of the bid round. After the completion of G&G work and drilling planning, the Ministry will invite global oil majors to join the next phase of offshore exploration, several of whom are already in contact with the government and local companies and are currently evaluating the available data.

The statement said a major intervention came from TPAO, a national company of Türkiye, which has taken a 25pc stake in the offshore block-C, along with operatorship.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2025