MOL announces hydrocarbon discovery in Pakistan

The MOL Group announced a new hydrocarbon discovery in the Karak Block in Pakistan. The block is operated by Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL) with 60% working interest while MOL Pakistan Oil & Gas Co. B.V has 40% in the block.

MOL Pakistan acquired working interest in the Karak Block in 2008. Oil was first discovered in 2011 with the Halini-1 exploration well. During 2015, Halini Deep-1 and Kalabagh-1 exploration wells were spudded and completed. Testing of Kalabagh was completed and resulted in a discovery in 2015, which was the second discovery in the Block. The present successful testing of the Halini Deep-1 well marks the third discovery in the Karak Block.

Berislav Gašo, MOL Group’s E&P COO commented the discovery: “We are very proud of our 11th discovery in Pakistan. In the past 17 years, the exploration teams led by MOL in Pakistan have successfully de-risked more than 400 MMBOE in 2P reserves. This well, which is operated by Mari Petroleum, adds to this success series and will also help to improve the energy security of the country. We are thankful for our cooperation with our partner, Mari Petroleum. Our exploration and development efforts in Pakistan contribute to the success of our New Upstream Program, which aims at making MOL Group’s portfolio self-funding even in a 35 USD/bbl oil price environment. Our Pakistani operations are a crucial building block in these efforts and we believe that there is further upside ahead of us in Pakistan.”