ISLAMABAD, Jan 22: The government on Monday granted two petroleum exploration licences to the joint venture of the Orient Petroleum International Inc. (OPII) and the Zaver Petroleum Corporation Limited (ZPCL).

The licences and petroleum concession agreements were signed by the Secretary of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Ahmed Waqar, on behalf of the President of Pakistan, Mohammad Naeem Malik, Director-General, Petroleum Concessions, Anwar Moin, Chief Operating Officer of the OPII, and Usman Khattak, Chief Operating Officer of the ZPCL.

An official announcement said the licences would give the right of exploration to the joint venture over Marwat Block No 3170-2 and Maharvi Block No 2972-3, covering an area of 1792.87 square kilometres and 2359.85 square kilometres, respectively.

The Marwat Block (zone-I) lies in Laki Marwat, Tank, D.I. Khan and South Waziristan in the NWFP, and Maharvi Block (zone-II) lies in Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar and Vehari in the Punjab.

The joint venture will invest $4.8 million during initial period of three years in both the blocks. The companies will carry out geological and geophysical studies, 2D seismic acquisitions and drilling of one exploratory well during the initial term of three years.The OPII is incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (Operator) and Zaver Petroleum Corporation Limited (ZPCL), registered under the laws of Pakistan. M/s OPII is operator in Mirpurkhas, Khipro and Sakhi Sarwar exploration licences and a working interest owner in two other exploration licences. The OPII is producing crude oil/gas/ condensate and LPG from 13 different fields.

The current daily average production from the fields operated by OPII is 101 mmcf of gas, 1732 barrels of oil/condensate and 58 MT of LPG. Whereas the ZPCL is the private sector Pakistani company incorporated in 1991 and is actively involved in E&P activities in the country.