ISLAMABAD, Sept 25: The government on Tuesday granted three petroleum exploration licences to the Petroleum Exploration Limited (PEL) for making an investment of $20.71 million in oil and gas exploration in Sindh.

The licences were given over Blocks No2669-5 (Sanghar East), No2568-16 (Mirpurkhas West) and No2468-8 (Kaloi), covering an area of 2,493.13, 199.26 and 2,485.14sq km, respectively.

Sanghar East block lies in Sanghar and Khairpur districts, Mirpurkhas West block in Hyderabad and Dadu districts, whereas Kaloi falls in Badin and Mithi districts of Sindh. All these blocks are in Zone-III.

The investment will be made in the aforesaid blocks to carry out geological and geophysical studies, acquisition, processing and interpretation of 2D seismic survey. Besides, this PEL will drill a total of nine exploratory wells – four in Sanghar East, three in Mirpurkhas West and two in Kaloi block during phase-I of the initial period of three years.

Petroleum Exploration Limited is a 100 per cent Pakistani oil and gas exploration company. It is operator of block 22 from where 15 million cubic feet of natural gas per day is being supplied to Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited and 15.35 mmcfd from Badar field.

The execution ceremony was witnessed by Amanullah Khan Jadoon, Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources. The licences and the petroleum concession agreements were signed by Farrakh Qayyum, Secretary, Petroleum and Natural Resources, on behalf of the President, Mohammad Naeem Malik, directorgeneral Petroleum Concessions and Zaheeruddin, chairman and chief executive of PEL.