The first gas reserves in Pakistan were discovered in the town of Sui in Dera Bugti in Balochistan in 1952, after which their search has been ongoing in different parts of the country.

Many successes have been achieved in the discovery of new oil and gas reserves in DI Khan, Bannu, Kohat, Lakki Marwat, North Waziristan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Badin, Thatta, Sanghar, Dadu, Sajawal in Sindh, Jhelum, Gujar Khan, Attock in Punjab and Balochistan.  These have recently been supplemented by new discoveries in the Soghar block of Attock and the North Waziristan block, which have been announced by OGDCL and Mari Energies Limited.

 According to initial testing, the new discovery in North Waziristan 25 million cubic feet of gas and 117 barrels of crude oil will be produced per day.  Last month, a successful experiment was conducted to extract 13 million cubic feet of gas and 20 barrels of crude oil from this block. 13.19 million cubic feet of gas and 430 barrels of crude oil have been produced from the Sughri North One well in Attock.  Earlier, oil and gas reserves were found in the Jhandel 3 Ikhlas block in Attock.  These discoveries will be helpful in increasing the country's local energy resources and reducing dependence on imports. According to analysts, the discovery of new reserves has resulted in a net increase in crude oil production of more than 50 million barrels and gas reserves of 36.4 billion cubic feet.  The current reserves of crude oil meet 70 percent of the country's diesel and 30 percent of the petrol requirements. About 35 percent of the energy is met from gas. There is no shortage of resources in Pakistan, there is a need to utilize them.

The oil and gas reserves found so far are not even a tenth of the estimates that geologists have been making claims about. Last year also, we got good news regarding new recoveries of gas reserves in Sindh when the PPL, after Maari Petroleum, also announced the discovery of new gas reserves in Sindh. Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) was formed in 1950 with the main objective of exploration and production of oil and natural gas. It says that new gas reservoir has been discovered in Latif block of Khairpur district (Sindh). Drilling of the well was started on May 5, 2024 and as per the target depth of 3438 meters was drilled. From which 11.27 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf) of gas will be obtained. 

About 35% of the energy requirement in Pakistan is met by gas. Gas is used as fuel in factories, vehicles and homes which is still scarce. Pre-existing Sui gas reserves are rapidly depleting. Discovery of new reserves is encouraging in this scenario. The latest discovery will add more hydrocarbon reserves and help increase local hydrocarbon supply in the country and reduce gas demand.  Pakistan has significant reserves of natural gas which are mostly located in the provinces of Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.  Gas is being extracted from 13 places in Sindh. Large deposits of oil and gas have also been discovered in Karak and Dera Ismail Khan. Maari Petroleum, one of Pakistan's largest energy and exploration companies, informed the stock exchange two days ago of the discovery of new gas reserves in the Ghazi Formation in Sindh, which will yield five million mmscf of gas per day.  

The Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL) has also resumed production from the Nashpachar well located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which will significantly reduce the country's import bill by $59.85 million.  We can manage a declining economy by harnessing our natural resources. Gas is the most important source of energy in Pakistan and accounts for 31% of the total demand. depends on local production and imports.  According to experts, behind the gas crisis in Pakistan and the severity prevailing in it is the increase in its price in the world market with the continuous decline in domestic production, while billions of tons of coal in the land. 

Currently, there is no cheaper source for domestic and industrial consumers. From time to time, the nation receives good news about the discovery of new oil and gas reserves, but the matter does not go beyond that. There is no denying that our country is rich in oil and gas, but serious efforts should be made to find them.

 So, the government should initiate steps to focus on news gas discoveries so that gas resources can be increased and the supply issues can be overcome. It is fact that Pakistan is blessed with countless deposits of oil, natural gas, coal but the same has not been exploited in real of the word. As a matter of fact, the energy resources play an important role in promoting rapid economic and industrial development. Internal and external companies are also exploring oil, gas and other mineral deposits in the homeland.  We used to hear about new gas deposits and  in 2023 when we heard that despots have been  discovered in Kirthar block of Dadu district of Sindh. Initially, this well will yield 7.8 mmscf of gas per day. Recently, large oil and gas reserves have also been discovered in Waziristan, Kirk and  Ismail Khan regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, from which 39.12 million cubic feet of gas and 1840 barrels of oil can be extracted per day. Before this, apart from Sui, gas is being extracted from 13 places in Sindh and Potohar.

Discovery and exploitation of new reserves will help reduce dependence on oil and gas imports and save valuable foreign exchange.  It may be mentioned here that an estimated forty percent of our energy requirement are met from indigenous gas mainly from Balochistan and Sindh.  Our main industry like cement and in generation and manufacturing of various products, chemical fertilizer, thermal power generation apart from general factories, the sued of gas is the main factor.  On the other hand, the dependence on gas from Sui and Balochistan is decreased and now it is mainly met by Sindh which can be gauged from the available statistics.

According to an estimate, the ratio of gas production is 70% in Sindh, 12% in Balochistan, 10% in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 8% in Punjab, so we need to focus on gas exploration in Sindh in particular.