ISLAMABAD (The Thursday Times) — A seismic survey ship from Türkiye’s state-owned offshore oil company will reach Karachi between November 17 and 20 to begin mapping Pakistan’s seabed for oil and gas, the Petroleum Division said on Friday.
Federal Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik chaired a meeting in Islamabad to review security, maritime and logistics arrangements for the arrival of the Turkish Petroleum Offshore Company vessel, the division said. Malik called it “a special moment for Pakistan-Türkiye friendship” and said he would try to receive the ship himself in Karachi.
The heads of the state energy companies OGDCL, PPL and GHPL attended, along with officials from the foreign affairs, maritime affairs, defence and interior ministries, the national hydrographic office and the ports and shipping directorate in Karachi.
What the ship will do: a seismic survey sends sound waves into the seabed and records the echoes to build a picture of the rock layers beneath, showing where oil or gas could be trapped. It comes before any drilling, and it does not guarantee a find.
Türkiye’s state oil company took a 25 per cent stake, alongside Pakistan Petroleum Limited, in one of 23 offshore blocks Pakistan awarded last year in its first offshore bidding round since 2007. The winning groups committed about $80 million in initial spending over three years on surveys and early assessments, which could rise to between $750 million and $1 billion if they move on to drilling, officials said at the time.
Pakistan has never made a commercially viable offshore discovery. Only 18 wells have been drilled in its offshore waters since 1947, and the last major attempt, the Kekra-1 deep-sea well, was abandoned in 2019 without commercial results. The country imports about half of its oil.
The survey adds to closer ties between the two countries. The Turkish parliament this week approved the Makkah defence pact with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
