Pakistan's OGDCL Suspends Shale Drilling: Press

Pakistan’s Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL) has suspended drilling for shale oil and gas in Sindh owing to low oil and gas prices and equipment shortages, The Express Tribune reported on May 6.

A company board member told the newspaper that no shale reserves have been found so far. “Work on the well has been suspended but the operation will resume in a few months. We are not done yet,” the board member said.

OGDC started drilling the first shale well, KUC-1, in the Hyderabad district of Sindh province in December last year.

“KUC-1 well has been planned to be drilled in two phases. It has now been successfully drilled to its desired depth as per phase-1 of the drilling plan and put under temporary suspension, again as part of the plan,” The Express Tribune quoted a company spokesperson saying.

Pakistan’s domestic natural gas production has been stagnant for many years. It has tried to revive the sector but has been mostly unsuccessful. With demand for gas steadily rising, Islamabad has been relying on imported LNG to bridge the deficit. The country became an LNG importer in 2015.