Eni has carried out a "significant new discovery" of gas onshore Pakistan, in the Badhra Area B exploration concession, located in the Khirtar Fold Belt region, 350 kilometers north of Karachi. This was communicated by the same company directed by Paolo Scaroni.
The Badhra B North-1 exploration well, which allowed the discovery, “was drilled at a depth of 2.450 meters and encountered a gas mineralized net thickness of over 54 meters in two high quality Cretaceous reservoirs of the Mughal Kot Formation”. During production tests, the well delivered 700 thousand and one million cubic meters of gas per day respectively from the two reservoirs. The gas "was of excellent quality". Currently, "the size of the discovery is estimated at between 8,5 and 11,5 billion cubic meters of gas in place and its assessment will require further delineation wells".
The discovery is located about 20 kilometers east of the Bhit gas treatment center, operated by Eni, where the gas from the Bhit and Badhra fields currently flows. The drilling of Badhra B North-1 "is part of Eni's new strategy in Pakistan aimed at refocusing exploration activities in areas adjacent to the production fields and confirms the existence of still significant exploration potential in the area which can be exploited through the application of new geological models”.
Eni has started discussions with the Pakistani regulator and the joint venture to “accelerate the start of production of the discovery through a long-term production test which will allow the commercialization of the gas, helping to reduce the country's deficit needs. The short time-to-market related to the development of the field is part of Eni's strategy of focusing on the rapid development of conventional and synergistic assets".
Eni, through its subsidiary Eni Pakistan Limited, is the operator of the block with a 40% stake in the development phase, together with its partners Premier Oil Plc. (6%), Kufpec Pakistan limited (34%) and Oil & Gas Development Company Limited (20%). Eni has been present in Pakistan since 2000 and is "the main producer with an equity production, in 2011, of approximately 54.800 barrels of oil equivalent per day".
