Pakistan Accelerates Offshore Drilling with New Sea-Reclaimed Platform – PPL dismissed claims

Web Desk, UPDATED (MNN); Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (PPL), a state-owned energy firm, is constructing an artificial island by reclaiming land from the sea to enhance its offshore oil and gas exploration capacity, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

According to the report, PPL’s General Manager for Exploration and Core Business Development, Arshad Palekar, said the man-made platform will be located roughly 30 kilometres off Sindh’s coastline near Sujawal. He shared these details during an oil and gas conference held in Islamabad.

Designed to stand six feet above sea level, the platform is expected to safeguard round-the-clock drilling operations from disruptions caused by high tides, he added.

Pakistan’s renewed focus on offshore drilling follows US President Donald Trump’s July social media remarks hinting at the country’s “massive oil reserves.” Since then, the government has granted offshore exploration licenses to PPL, Mari Energies Ltd, and Prime International Oil and Gas Company.

Palekar noted that the project marks a first for Pakistan and draws inspiration from Abu Dhabi’s successful artificial drilling islands. The construction is expected to finish by February, with operations commencing immediately afterward. The company plans to drill approximately 25 wells.

Meanwhile, global trading firm Vitol announced Monday that it, along with Cnergyico—Pakistan’s largest oil refiner—has delivered the country’s biggest shipment of very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) for ship bunkering.

This shipment, produced under IMO-compliant low-sulphur standards, follows Cnergyico’s first large-scale batch of fuel made after it began importing US crude earlier this year.

The development will allow larger vessels refuelling in Pakistan to undertake longer east-west voyages without additional stops, while also strengthening the nation’s supply of environmentally compliant marine fuel.

UPDATED

Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) on Thursday dismissed claims that it was developing an offshore artificial island, clarifying that ongoing work is solely aimed at ensuring safe drilling operations in a technically challenging, tide-affected marshy region.

A day earlier, Bloomberg reported that PPL is reclaiming land from the sea to create a launchpad to ramp up oil and gas exploration.

PPL said the ongoing activity was aimed at ensuring safe and stable drilling operations in the tide-affected Sirani Block near Sujawal — an area that has remained largely unexplored because of severe accessibility and operational constraints.

“The activities underway relate to enabling safe drilling operations in a challenging marshy environment, rather than the development of a standalone offshore island,” the company stated.

Describing it as one of Pakistan’s first attempts to drill in such terrain, PPL said it had already completed 2D and 3D seismic surveys using specialised transition-zone equipment.

“Construction work is currently underway to facilitate drilling, including loading and offloading jetties and an access road linking the jetty to the well site,” it added.

Given the marshy subsoil and tidal conditions, both the access road and the well pad are being elevated by about nine feet. “This is essential to ensure operational continuity and mitigate the effects of low and high tides,” the clarification said.

“The well site lies nearly 30 kilometres from the mainland. A 17-kilometre natural water channel will be used to transport rig components and material via barges between the jetties, according to the company. The exploratory well is scheduled to be spud in March 2026,” the company concluded.