By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (PPL) on Thursday rejected as misleading a report that it was reclaiming land from the sea to build an artificial island for oil and gas exploration, saying its project in a marshy area near Sujawal involved only preparations for safe drilling in difficult tidal terrain.
The state-owned company issued the clarification after Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that PPL was creating an artificial island about 30 kilometres off the Sindh coast to serve as a launchpad for ramping up offshore exploration.
The US outlet quoted PPL General Manager Exploration and Core Business Development Arshad Palekar as describing the initiative as land reclamation for an island.
“We would like to clarify that the aforesaid media coverage is misleading and does not fully reflect the technical scope and design of the project, “PPL said in a statement. “The activities underway relate to enabling safe drilling operations in a challenging marshy environment, rather than the development of a standalone offshore island. This is a technically complex and unique initiative, and is among the first projects in Pakistan to undertake drilling in such a marshy, tide-affected area.”
The company said the project was located in the southern marshy region of the Sirani Block, an area that had remained unexplored because of severe operational and accessibility challenges. The initial drilling at the well was scheduled for March 2026.
“PPL has already successfully acquired 2D and 3D seismic data in this area using specialised transition-zone equipment. Construction activities are currently in progress to support drilling operations, including development of loading/offloading jetties and an access road linking the offloading jetty to the well site,” the statement said. “Due to the marshy subsoil conditions and tidal influence, both the access road and the well pad are being raised by approximately nine feet to ensure operational continuity and mitigate the effects of low and high tides.”
The well site is approximately 30 km from the mainland, with a natural water channel of about 17 km between the loading and offloading jetties that will be used to transport rig equipment and materials by barge, PPL said.
The project comes amid renewed momentum in Pakistan’s offshore exploration drive, which gained attention after U.S. President Donald Trump in July posted on social media about the country’s “massive oil reserves”. Since then, Islamabad has awarded offshore exploration licences to PPL, Mari Energies Ltd and Prime International Oil and Gas Company.
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