Pakistan is moving fast towards achieving self-reliance in crude oil production after the government accelerated exploration of indigenous hydrocarbon resources over the last three years.

“The capacity to produce crude oil and its indigenous refining is increasing gradually. Now, the country has started moving on the path of achieving self reliance in the sector,” the official sources in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources said.

They said that the crude oil production of the Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL) had recently touched the highest level of 48,767 barrels per day (bpd).

Pakistan’s total crude oil production is around 85,000 bpd and OGDCL’s share is more than 57 per cent.

The current government, they said, had so far added 32,000 barrel per day in crude oil production, while additional 4,000 bpd oil would come to the system during the current winter, bringing the production capacity to 90,000 bpd mark.

“The crude oil production achieved by OGDCL has never been matched by any foreign or local E&P company operating in Pakistan,” they said.

Answering a question, they said, the Byco Petroleum Company had established the country largest production unit, having refining 120,000 bpd oil, in Balochistan last year.

Presently, they said, as many as six oil refineries were operating in the country and they had full capacity to refine the product as per needs of the country. However, they said, a lot of work was yet to be done in the exploration sector.

Currently 70 per cent of the current oil demand was met through import and the government had planned to set up more oil refineries in the coming days, they added.

Recently, they said, the government in a significant move to achieve self-reliance in the oil production sector, had given the task to Pakistan Arab Refinery Company (PARCO) to complete the much delayed multi-billion dollar Khalifa Coastal Oil Refinery project.

The coastal refinery will have the capacity to refine 250,000 bpd – equal to 13 million tons of petroleum products per year, they added.