• PPL says activity aimed at ensuring safe drilling operations in Sirani.
• Company describes initiative as first attempt to drill in such terrain.
• “Exploratory well is scheduled to be spud in March 2026.”

KARACHI: State-owned energy company Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) on Thursday rejected reports claiming it was reclaiming land from the sea to construct an artificial island for oil and gas exploration, saying that the project involved only preparatory work to enable drilling in a difficult marshland environment.

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

The outlet quoted PPL’s General Manager Exploration and Core Business Development, Arshad Palekar, as saying that an artificial island would be created about 30 kilometres off the coast of Sindh, near Sujawal.

In a formal clarification, a copy of which is available with Geo.tv, the company said recent coverage about “reclaiming land from the sea to build an artificial island” was “misleading and does not fully reflect the technical scope and design of the project.”

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.

Islamabad has intensified its drilling efforts after US President Donald Trump expressed interest in the country’s oil reserves and a recent study indicated the presence of significant yet-to-be-found hydrocarbons in offshore basins.

The report comes weeks after Pakistan awarded 23 offshore exploration blocks to four consortia, comprising local and foreign firms.

The Ministry of Energy announced on October 31 that the country had held its first such bidding round in nearly two decades, awarding 23 of the 40 offshore blocks offered, covering approximately 53,500 square kilometres.

In July, US President Trump had said that his government concluded a deal with Pakistan, where the two countries will work together on developing Islamabad’s “massive oil reserves”.

“We are in the process of choosing the Oil Company that will lead this partnership,” he wrote in his post on Truth Social.