Pakistan's Minister for Maritime Affairs Syed Ali Haider Zaidi said that two multinational companies are all set to kick off drilling in Arabian Sea offshore the country's southern port city of Karachi to explore gas and oil.
In a tweet on Saturday, Zaidi said that U.S. multinational oil and gas company ExxonMobil, and Italian energy giant ENI have transported equipment to exploration site docked 230 km off Karachi coast for exploration of oil and gas.
"Best of luck to ExxonMobil & ENI when they start drilling. Let us all pray for a global discovery. From the looks of it, big news," he said.
Earlier this year, former caretaker Foreign Minister Abdullah Hussain Haroon said that ExxonMobil has indicated oil reserves in Arabian Sea off Pakistan's coast could be even bigger than the Kuwaiti reserves.
ExxonMobil joined the offshore oil and gas exploration efforts in May this year. The efforts were initiated by two Pakistani government-owned companies Oil and Gas Development Corporation and Pakistan Petroleum Limited together with Italian ENI, which was already operating in different energy projects in Pakistan.
Each company will have 25 percent stake in the joint venture under an agreement signed by the interim government of Pakistan in May this year.
Editor:Cherie
