PGNiG Spuds Third Well at Pakistani Field

Polish oil gas producer PGNiG has broken ground on a third well at the Rizq tight gas field in southern Pakistan, it said July 8.

The company’s Exalo Drilling subsidiary is drilling the well, which has a target depth of 3,277 metres.

The Rizq field was discovered in the Sindh province in 2015 and entered production a year later after the launch of the Rizq-1 well. A second well, Rizq-2, was commissioned in 2017, and the field is flowing at a rate of 417,000 m³/d, according to PGNiG.

“We are proceeding with the work in Pakistan as planned. The outlook for growth in demand for gas in this country is bright, which is an incentive to develop the exploration and production business,” PGNiG’s president, Piotr Wozniak, commented in a statement.

Pakistan wants to pour more investment into its domestic gas industry to help ensure its supply security and keep imports in check. The country consumed 43.6bn m³ of gas last year but produced only 34.2bn m³, and the supply deficit is growing.

Rizq is one of two fields operated by PGNiG in Pakistan. The other is Rehman, another tight gas deposit that hosts five wells. The Polish firm is partnered at both projects with Pakistan Petroleum (PPL) in a 70:30 split. It netted an output of 230mn m³ of gas from the assets in 2018, a third more than the year before. “By the end of the year we will start drilling more boreholes and new wells will come online,” Wozniak said.