Islamabad: Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (PPL) is constructing an artificial island in the Arabian Sea to accelerate the country’s offshore oil and gas exploration efforts, according to Bloomberg.
The state-owned energy company is reclaiming land around 300 kilometres off the coast of Sindh to create a stable platform for round-the-clock drilling operations. The structure, planned at a height of six feet, is intended to prevent high tides from disrupting exploration activity, PPL’s General Manager Exploration and Core Business Development Arshad Palekar said on the sidelines of an oil and gas conference in Islamabad.
Pakistan’s offshore drilling has gained renewed momentum after US President Donald Trump highlighted the country’s “massive oil reserves” in a social media post in July. Since then, the government has issued offshore exploration licences to PPL, Mari Energies Ltd, and Prime International Oil and Gas Co.
Palekar said the project is the first of its kind in Pakistan and draws on experience from Abu Dhabi, where artificial islands have been used successfully for drilling. Construction is expected to be completed in February, with operations scheduled to begin immediately afterward. PPL aims to drill around 25 wells from the new platform.
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