KOHAT: The residents of Chor Lakki area of Kohat have demanded of the local lawmakers to ask the oil and gas exploration companies to expand their activities to the area to tap the ‘abundant’ quantity of oil coming out naturally from earth in the region.

Elders Shahid Hayat Advocate and Ajmal Khan said that it required heavy machinery for deep drilling to exploit the oil and gas potential of the area.

They regretted that the black gold was going down the drain because of apathy of the authorities.

They said the local people had drilled wells up to 75 yards deep, and tried to sell the oil in Punjab, but were not allowed by the police to cross the Khushalgarah checkpost. The elders said oil worth billions of rupees was being wasted.

They said exploration companies had successfully drilled about a dozen wells in Shakardarra and Lachi since 2002 and Hangu since 2017, and urged the legislators from Kohat to ask the firms to expand their exploration work to the area.

Saleem Altaf, chairman of Karwan-i-Ammal, who has also visited the area, told Dawn on contact that several springs had been bubbling out to the surface for last over a decade, but no company came to the area for carrying out drilling.

He said the local people had used pipes to take oil to their homes to be used as an alternative to fuel wood.

Mr Altaf called on chairman of parliamentary committee on Kashmir Shehryar Afridi to engage oil companies for carrying out exploration work in the area.

He said exploitation of oil and gas could change the fate of this backward area’s residents, located some 65 kilometres from the Kohat town.

Dr Babar, who served in a local hospital, said people sold oil after collecting it in drums. He said people also used the oil as an alternative to fuel wood at homes. However, he said a large quantity of the product flowed into the nearby Indus River.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2021