KOHAT: A senior official of a foreign oil and gas exploration company has said production from the new discovery in the Tal block in Kohat will be connected to the national grid in the first quarter of 2021.

Talking to Dawn on Thursday, Hungarian company MOL Group's Regional Vice President for MEA & Pakistan, Ali Murtaza Abbas, claimed that the firm had become the country’s second largest producer of LPG, natural gas, oil and condensate after the latest discovery in Lachi tehsil of Kohat with 16.12mmcfd of gas and 3,242 barrels per day of crude oil.

He said it was the 10th discovery made by MOL at the well called Mami Khel South-I the other day.

He said the company, despite having been affected by shortage of staff due to Covid-19-induced SOPs and lockdowns, continued its operations.

He said the owner of the land where the discovery was made had been paid handsome amount.

He said in the Tal Block, the consortium led by MOL, had invested heavily to offset impact of its operations, and provided employment to over 40 per cent of local population, both skilled and unskilled workers.

Oil firm says it is preferring locals for employment

He added that the exploratory well had successfully reached a total depth of 4,939 metres on May 23, 2020. Mr Abbas said the firm had identified a few prospects in the eastern side of Tal, Hangu district, with good upside potential. For the western part, we have recently concluded our 3D seismic survey and will be working our way towards processing and interpreting the data to find new prospects for drilling future wells, he added.

“The Tal Block is amongst the largest hydrocarbon producing assets in the country and MOL as a world-class operator continues to work to tap into this resource-rich area,” he maintained.

POWER SUPPLY REMAINS SUSPENDED: Electricity supply to half of the tribal subdivision of Darra Adamkhel, Tappi, Muhammadzai, Merozai, OTS, Jangle Khel, City 4, ChakarKot, Jarma, Nasrat Khel and Bilitang areas remained suspended on Thursday after a second major fire struck the Rawalpindi Road grid station on Monday evening.

Pesco executive engineer Yousuf Hussain told Dawn that electricity supply was expected to be restored to the whole district and Darra by 10pm to 11pm on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Pesco officials confided to Dawn that the protection system at the 132KV grid station did not work to affect tripping of the breakers of the panels due to blast in the big cables supplying electricity to the feeders after the huge blazes struck it over the past few days.

They said the protection/tripping system worked when any trouble or fire was detected by them. They said fire was so huge that it engulfed the entire tripping system.

However, executive engineer Yousuf Hussain and SDO Wajidullah Khan said the tripping systems were safe because fire erupted before reaching the breakers connected to the feeders through cables.

To a question, Mr Hussain said that the facts would be unearthed after an inquiry report being compiled by experts.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2020