ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The federal government has proposed an allocation of Rs 943.175 million under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP 2018-19), to execute four ongoing and five new (unapproved) projects to accelerate oil and gas exploration activities in potential areas across the Country.
According to the PSDP, Rs 416.535 million have been earmarked for an ongoing project to acquire four drilling rigs with accessories for the Geological Survey of Pakistan.
An amount of Rs 13.736 million have been kept for appraisal of newly discovered coal resources of Badin Coal Field and its adjoining areas of Southern Sindh, while Rs 14.609 million have been reserved for exploration and evaluation of metallic minerals in Uthal and Bela areas, district Lasbella, Balochistan.
Whereas, for a similar ongoing project, Rs 18.295 would be spent on exploration and evaluation for coal in Nosham and Bahlol areas, Balochistan.
For the five new proposed schemes, the government would utilize funds amounting to Rs 100 million for expansion and up-gradation of Pakistan Petroleum Corehouse (PETCORE) for its sustainable operations to facilitate oil and gas exploration research in Pakistan.
While, an amount of Rs 10 million have been allocated for geological mapping of 50 Toposheets out of 354 Unmapped Toposheets of Outcrop areas of Balochistan province.
Funds amounting to Rs 220 million would be spent for strengthening and up-gradation of Karachi Laboratories Complex (KLC) at HDIP Operations Office, Karachi.
While, the government has planned to spend Rs 50 million for up-gradation of Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan’s (HDIP) POL Testing Facilities at Islamabad, Lahore, Multan, Peshawar, Quetta and ISO Certification of Petroleum Testing Laboratory at Islamabad.
Source: APP
