Pakistan’s OGDC boosts unconventional gas projects

• An OGDC official says the company has tripled its gas-tight study area.
• Company open to partners “on a mutual basis”: official.
• Shale expansion program in five-six wells by 2026-27.
  

Pakistan’s state-run Oil and Gas Development Corporation (OGDC) is planning a major expansion of unconventional gas developments from early next year, aiming to boost production and reduce dependence on imported liquefied natural gas.

Pakistan has long been considered to have potential in both tight and shale gas, which are trapped in rock and can only be released by specialized drilling, but commercial production has yet to be proven.

said managing director Ahmed Lak Reuters that OGDC had tripled the tight gas study area to 4,500 square kilometers after new seismic and reservoir analysis showed greater potential. The second phase of the technical evaluation will be completed by the end of January, followed by full development plans.

The new push comes after US President Donald Trump said Pakistan held “huge” oil reserves in July, prompting Islamabad to stress it was continuing its own efforts to unlock unconventional resources.

“We started with 85 wells, but the footprint has expanded massively,” Luck said, adding that OGDC’s next five-year plan will look “drastically different.”

Early results indicate a “significant” resource in areas of Sindh and Balochistan, where many reservoirs show restricted gas characteristics, he said.

The shale pilot is increasing

OGDC is also fast-tracking its shale program, moving from a single test well to a five- to six-well plan in 2026–27, with expected flows of 3–4 million standard cubic feet per day (mmcfd) per well. If successful, the development could scale to hundreds or even more than 1,000 wells, Luck said.

He said shale alone could eventually add 600 mmcfd to 1 billion standard cubic feet per day of incremental supply, though partners would be needed if the pilot proved viable.

The company is open to partners “on a reciprocal basis,” potentially exchanging acreage overseas for participation in Pakistan, he said.

A 2015 US Energy Information Administration study estimated that Pakistan had 9.1 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil from shale oil, the largest such resource outside of China and the United States.

A 2022 assessment found parts of the Indus Basin geologically comparable to North American shale plays, though analysts say commercial viability still depends on better geoengineering data, expanded fracking capacity and water availability.

OGDC plans to start drilling an offshore deepwater well in the Indus Basin, known as the Deepal prospect, in the fourth quarter of 2026, Lak said. In October, Turkey’s TPAO with PPL and its consortium partners, including OGDC, were awarded a block for offshore exploration.

A combination of weak natural gas demand, rising solar power uptake and an inflexible LNG import schedule has created a gas glut that has forced OGDC to cut output and prompted Pakistan to divert cargoes from Italy’s ENI and seek revised terms with Qatar.