Pakistan Awards Offshore Oil License

Pakistan granted an offshore oil and gas exploration licence on Friday to a consortium led by the state-run Government Holding Private Ltd (GHPL), according to a report on www.thepeninsulaqatar.com.

Under the concession the company and its five Pakistani and foreign partners will spend $18m to drill an exploration well in the Indus E Block off the coast of Sindh province in 2006, the Ministry of Petroleum said in a statement. The block, covering an area of 7,389.95 sq km, is about 150km off the coast of Karachi in water more than 1,000 metres (3,280 feet) deep, it said.

The other companies in the GHPL-led consortium — Shell Development and Offshore Pakistan, Premier Oil Pakistan Offshore, Kufpec Pakistan, Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd and Pakistan Petroleum Ltd — will take part in the exploration work, the ministry said.