By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: Pakistan’s state-owned Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd. made a fresh hydrocarbon discovery in Sindh province after engineers rescued a suspended exploratory well using an unconventional partnership with a local university — a find analysts say will add roughly Rs1.67 per share to annual earnings.
The Bobi Deep-1 well in Sanghar district’s Bobi and Dhamraki Mining Lease tested at 2,000 barrels of oil per day and 1.1 million standard cubic feet of gas per day from the Massive Sand interval of the Lower Goru Formation, OGDCL said on Wednesday. The flow was recorded on a 32/64-inch choke through a cased-hole Drill Stem Test, the temporary procedure drillers use to gauge reservoir pressure and productivity before committing to permanent completion.
OGDCL, which holds a 100% working interest in the block, called the result the first-ever hydrocarbon discovery from the Massive Sand play within the lease area, a designation that matters because it establishes a new geological target type across what had previously been underexplored acreage.
The company is Pakistan’s single largest upstream producer and just two months ago began commercial output from what it described as the country’s biggest oil and gas discovery ever from a single well — underscoring a run of exploration results that has lifted its profile among state energy firms in the region.
A Well That Nearly Wasn’t
What makes the Bobi Deep-1 result unusual is the route it took to get there. Drilling had previously been halted after the well encountered complex subsurface conditions that the company did not immediately disclose in detail. Rather than plug and abandon the prospect — standard industry practice when costs and technical risk escalate — OGDCL convened a multidisciplinary team of geoscientists and reservoir engineers and reached outside the company entirely.
The team engaged the Centre for Pure and Applied Geology at the University of Sindh in Jamshoro, conducting advanced geophysical surveys, subsurface studies and field evaluations jointly. The collaboration produced a revised geological and geophysical model that gave the company enough confidence to re-enter the well. Specialized civil works and additional engineering safeguards were installed before the rig was redeployed and the target depth reached.
Industry observers noted the arrangement is uncommon for national oil companies operating in South Asia, where exploration decisions typically stay within corporate or government technical departments.
Opening a New Play
The significance extends beyond the well itself. By proving the Massive Sand as a productive interval within the lease, OGDCL has effectively de-risked a suite of analogous structures in the surrounding area — a dynamic that tends to accelerate near-term exploration spending as companies drill off look-alike prospects under a proven geological concept.
Arif Habib Ltd., the Karachi-based brokerage, noted in a post on X that the discovery is expected to contribute approximately Rs1.67 per share to OGDCL’s annual earnings. The company did not provide its own reserve or production estimates for the find, nor a timeline for bringing the well onto commercial production.
OGDCL said the discovery is expected to support Pakistan’s energy security goals, reduce dependence on imported fuel and add to the country’s hydrocarbon reserve base — the standard benchmarks Islamabad uses to evaluate upstream investment priorities as it manages a current-account burden that has historically been sensitive to oil import costs.
The Sanghar district has become an increasingly active part of OGDCL’s portfolio. Last April, the company announced the revival of oil and gas production from the Chak#2-2 well in the nearby Sinjhoro Block, a joint venture in which OGDCL operates with a 62.5% working interest alongside Government Holdings (Pvt) Ltd. at 22.5% and Orient Petroleum Inc. at 15%.
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