Entertainment
PPL denies plan to build ‘artificial island’, says work limited to safe drilling setup
- 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.
Entertainment
Sydney Sweeney hard launches her romance with beau Scooter Braun
Well, that soft launch has officially become a full-blown hard launch.
Sydney Sweeney just made things very Instagram official with Scooter Braun – and fans wasted approximately three seconds before turning the comments section into a full FBI investigation.
The Euphoria star dropped a Stagecoach photo carousel on Friday that looked innocent enough at first: cowboy vibes, festival lights, karaoke chaos. Then came the cuddling photos.
One snapshot showed the pair squeezed together in a photo booth making goofy faces, while another featured Braun literally carrying Sweeney bridal-style through the crowd like this was the final scene of a rom-com nobody saw coming.
There was also a clip of them singing karaoke together and another of Sweeney perched on his shoulders during a performance because apparently subtlety has officially left the chat.
“cowboy kind of weekend,” she captioned the post — which may be the understatement of the year.
Braun had already hinted at the romance weeks earlier after posting Sweeney on his Instagram Story, but this is the clearest confirmation yet that the two are no longer trying to keep things low-key.
The pair reportedly started dating in September 2025 after meeting at the lavish wedding of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez in Venice.
Since then, they have been spotted on multiple dates and holding hands publicly.
Now? The internet has officially upgraded them from rumour to relationship status.
Entertainment
Greta Gerwig finally reveals her wild new ‘Narnia’ movie title
The wardrobe is officially open again – and this time, Greta Gerwig is leading the way.
Netflix has finally confirmed the title and release dates for Gerwig’s long-awaited Chronicles of Narnia reboot, and fantasy fans already sound emotionally unwell online.
The first film will be called Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew and arrives in theaters on February 12, 2027, before landing on Netflix on April 2.
And yes, the cast is stacked.
Meryl Streep, Daniel Craig, Carey Mulligan, Emma Mackey and Denise Gough are all set to appear in the fantasy epic based on C.S. Lewis’ classic books.
Gerwig, who writes, directs, and produces the film, got deeply personal while explaining why this story matters to her.
“I was a child when I first read The Magician’s Nephew, and I fell in love with the gorgeously improbable but completely brilliant concept of a cosmic lion singing the world of Narnia to life,” she said.
“I didn’t know that I would grow up to make films… but a universe built out of music is an idea that always lived in my heart.”
Unlike the earlier Narnia movies, Gerwig’s film starts at the very beginning of the timeline, exploring Aslan’s creation of Narnia itself – essentially the fantasy franchise’s origin story.
In other words: Greta Gerwig is about to make an entire generation cry over a lion all over again.
Entertainment
Trump expands US sanctions on Cuban government and affiliates
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday broadening US sanctions against the Cuban government, two White House officials told Reuters, as he seeks to put more pressure on Havana after ousting Venezuela’s leader.
The fresh sanctions target people, entities and affiliates that support the Cuban government’s security apparatus or are complicit in corruption or serious human rights violations, as well as agents, officials or supporters of the government, the officials said.
It was not immediately clear who exactly had been hit with sanctions under the order, which was first reported by Reuters.
But a copy of the order released by the White House said the sanctions could apply to “any foreign person” operating in the “energy, defence and related materiel, metals and mining, financial services, or security sector of the Cuban economy, or any other sector of the Cuban economy.”
The order authorises secondary sanctions for conducting or facilitating transactions with those targeted under the order, the officials said.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said the new “coercive” measures reinforce the US’s “brutal, genocidal” blockade against the island.
“The blockade and its reinforcement cause so much harm because of the intimidating and arrogant behaviour of the world’s greatest military power,” Diaz-Canel wrote on social media.
Cuba’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez, said the sanctions measures, which were announced as the island held its traditional May Day celebrations, aim to impose “collective punishment on the Cuban people” and that Cubans would not be intimidated.
Ratcheting up pressure on Cuban government
Jeremy Paner, a former sanctions investigator at the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, said the move was the most significant one for non-American companies since the US embargo against Cuba began decades ago.

“Oil and gas, mining companies, and banks that have carefully segregated their Cuba operations from the United States are no longer protected,” said Paner, who is now a partner at Hughes Hubbard & Reed, a law firm.
The new sanctions are the latest broadside by the Trump administration against Cuba, which the president has repeatedly declared is near a state of collapse.
Under Trump, US forces have launched strikes on boats allegedly carrying drugs off Venezuela and gone into Caracas to seize President Nicolas Maduro. Trump has said, without providing specifics, that “Cuba is next.”
The officials said Trump’s order contained an implicit warning to Cuba, accusing the Havana government of aligning itself with Iran and groups like Hezbollah.
“Cuba provides a permissive environment for hostile foreign intelligence, military, and terrorist operations less than 100 miles from the American homeland,” one official said.
The US has long demanded Cuba open its state-run economy, pay reparations for properties expropriated by the government of former leader Fidel Castro and hold “free and fair” elections. Cuba has said its form of socialist government is not up for negotiation.
The US heaped additional sanctions and pressure on the island early this year, when it halted Venezuelan oil exports to Cuba after ousting Maduro on January 3. Trump later threatened to slap punishing tariffs on any other country that sent crude to Cuba, prompting Mexico, another top supplier, to stop shipments to the island.
The fuel shortage in Cuba has contributed to major national-level blackouts and prompted many foreign airlines to suspend flights to the island.
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