Pakistan plans artificial offshore island to accelerate oil and gas drilling: Report

Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (PPL) is constructing an artificial offshore island to accelerate oil and gas exploration, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, November 19, citing company officials.

The state-owned

explorer is reclaiming land from the sea about 30 kilometres off the coast of Sindh, near Sujawal, to create a stable launchpad for continuous drilling operations.

According to the Bloomberg report, Arshad Palekar, PPL’s General Manager for Exploration and Core Business Development, said on the sidelines of an energy conference in Islamabad that the six-foot-high platform would prevent high tides from disrupting round-the-clock operations.

The company plans to drill around 25 wells once the island is operational. Construction is expected to be completed by February, he said.

Fresh push after US signals interest

According to Bloomberg, Pakistan’s exploration efforts have gathered pace since US President Donald Trump flagged interest in the country’s “massive oil reserves” in a social media post in July. Following that, Pakistan awarded offshore exploration licences to PPL, Mari Energies Ltd and Prime International Oil and Gas Co.

Also Read: Trump repeats claim of stopping war between India and Pakistan

Trump had announced that Washington and Islamabad had concluded a deal to jointly work on developing Pakistan’s oil resources, saying in a Truth Social post that the partnership could even lead to Pakistan “selling oil to India one day." Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif later described the agreement as “historic,” according to local reports.

Multiple discoveries amid long-held claims

Pakistan has long maintained that substantial oil reserves lie off its coast. Earlier in June, state-owned Oil & Gas Development Company (OGDCL) announced a new discovery in Sindh’s Kharo area after drilling the Faakir-1 wildcat well to a depth of 4,185 metres. The well tested at 6.4 million cubic feet of gas per day and 55 barrels of condensate, officials said.

Last year, Pakistani media widely reported that a major petroleum and natural gas deposit had been identified in the country’s territorial waters, with DawnNewsTV citing a senior security official who claimed it could be among the world’s four largest reserves.

However, former Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) member Muhammad Arif urged caution at the time, noting that while survey data looked promising, commercial viability was never guaranteed. He said exploration could require around $5 billion in investment and up to five years before meaningful extraction.