Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company K.S.C. (KUFPEC) signed an exploration license and petroleum concession agreement with Pakistan, with the South Asian state awarding the Kuwaiti firm exploration rights in the Paharpur Block in the country, according to Kuwait News Agency Friday.
The deal was inked by KUFPEC CEO Sheikh Nawaf Saud Al-Nasser Al-Sabah and Pakistan’s Secretary for Petroleum and Natural Resources Arshad Mirza in a signing ceremony in Islamabad witnessed by Pakistan Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
The Paharpur Block, located in the D.I. Khan District spread over an area of approximately 873 square miles (2,261 square kilometers), will be KUFPEC’s second operated asset in Pakistan and its first in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, company CEO Sheikh Nawaf said.
The Kuwaiti partners in the Paharpur Block are State Oil and Gas Company of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other national exploration and production companies of Pakistan, he added.
KUFPEC currently operates the Jati Exploration Block in Sindh, where drilling activities are expected to commence soon. The firm also has producing interests in Qadirpur, Zamzama, Kadanwari, Bhit, Badhra, Sukhpur and Zarghun Blocks, and is the third largest gas producer amongst foreign exploration and production companies operating in Pakistan.
KUFPEC has invested more than $1 billion in Pakistan since 1987 in “our efforts to make Pakistan a core business center for KUFPEC,” Sheikh Nawaf said.
KUFPEC, a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, is an international oil company engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas outside Kuwait. It is currently active in 15 countries worldwide with 63 oil and gas projects across Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe and North America.
In a separate development, Kuwait Energy — an independent oil and gas company with assets across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region — and Egypt’s national oil company Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) have signed an agreement for EGPC to farm-in for a 10% participating interest in Iraq’s Block 9.
EGPC will partner Dragon Oil Holdings Limited and operator Kuwait Energy in the Block 9 license, located in the Basra Governorate in Southern Iraq.
“We are pleased to announce EGPC’s first international investment. The merit of this investment is its contribution to building an economic relationship between Iraq and Egypt. Block 9 has huge potentials of oil reserves and resources, which add significant value for Egypt. This partnership with Kuwait Energy comes as the fruit of the Strategic Alignment Agreement signed in 2011,” EGPC CEO Tarek El Molla said in a press release Sunday.
The Exploration, Development & Production Service Contract for Block 9 was signed in January 2013 after the award in 2012.
The first discovery in Block 9 was made in September 2014 in the Mishrif formation resulting in a flow rate of around 2,000 b/d of oil on 32/64 inch choke, and the second discovery followed shortly in December 2014 in the Yamama formation resulting in oil flow rates of approximately 8,000 b/d on 64/64 inch choke.
Source: Rigzone
