- PPL says activity aimed at ensuring safe drilling operations at Sirani.
- The company describes the initiative as the first attempt to drill in such terrain.
- “The exploratory well is scheduled to be plastered in March 2026.”
KARACHI: State-owned energy company Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) on Thursday dismissed reports claiming it was reclaiming land from the sea to construct an artificial island for oil and gas exploration, saying the project involved only preparatory work to enable drilling in a difficult marshland environment.
A day earlier, Bloomberg reported that PPL is reclaiming land from the sea to create a launch pad to boost oil and gas exploration.
The outlet quoted PPL’s General Manager Exploration and Core Business Development, Arshad Palekar, as saying that an artificial island would be created about 30 kilometers off the coast of Sindh, near Sujawal.
In a formal clarification, a copy of which is available with Pakinomist.tvthe company said recent coverage about “reclaiming land from the sea to build an artificial island” was “misleading and does not fully reflect the project’s technical scope and design.”
PPL said the ongoing activity was aimed at ensuring safe and stable drilling operations in the tide-affected Sirani block near Sujawal – an area that has remained largely unexplored due to severe accessibility and operational constraints.
“The ongoing activities relate to enabling safe drilling operations in a challenging swampy environment rather than the development of a standalone offshore island,” the company said.
Describing it as one of Pakistan’s first attempts to drill in such terrain, PPL said it had already conducted 2D and 3D seismic surveys using specialized transition zone equipment.
“Construction work is currently underway to facilitate drilling, including loading and unloading jetties and an access road connecting the jetty to the well site,” it added.
Due to the swampy subsoil and tidal conditions, both the access road and the well pad will be raised by about nine feet. “This is essential to ensure operational continuity and mitigate the effects of low and high tides,” the statement said.
“The well site is located almost 30 kilometers from the mainland. A 17 kilometer long natural water channel will be used to transport rig components and material via barge between piers, according to the company. The exploratory well is scheduled to be spudded in March 2026,” the company concluded.
Islamabad has stepped up its drilling efforts after US President Donald Trump expressed interest in the country’s oil reserves and a recent study indicated the presence of significant, as yet undiscovered, hydrocarbons in offshore basins.
The report comes weeks after Pakistan awarded 23 offshore exploration blocks to four consortia, made up of local and foreign firms.
The Ministry of Energy announced on October 31 that the country had held its first such bidding round in nearly two decades, awarding 23 of the 40 offshore blocks on offer covering approximately 53,500 square kilometers.
In July, US President Trump had said his government had struck a deal with Pakistan in which the two countries would work together to develop Islamabad’s “massive oil reserves”.
“We are in the process of selecting the oil company to lead this partnership,” he wrote in his post on Truth Social.
