Mari Petroleum plans first offshore drilling by 4QFY23

Mari Petroleum plans first offshore drilling by 4QFY23

KARACHI: Mari Petroleum Company has planned to drill first well at offshore block in fourth quarter of the current fiscal year.

The management of the company on Friday while commenting on the Abu Dhabi offshore block, disclosed that the company planned to drill first well in 4QFY23 with the consortium. “For this, company has invested $10 million which will bear drilling expenditures,” according to Insight Research.

READ MORE: Mari Petroleum stops production from Zarghun, Bolan fields

Mari Petroleum conducted corporate briefing to discuss financial results and future outlook of the company.

The Insight Research highlighted key takeaways from the briefing.

During fiscal year 2021/2022, MARI posted highest net sales and profit after tax of PKR 95 billion and PKR 33 billion with PKR 247.80 Earning Per Share (EPS), up by 30 per cent and 5 per cent Year on Year (YoY), respectively.

The increase in earnings is attributable to higher realized gas prices led by elevated oil prices and PKR devaluation coupled with higher gas production.

Company’s production has crossed the mark of 100K BOEPD first time in history due to export of undrawn volumes towards SNGPL network and addition of new wells.

To highlight, company has exported 45bcf gas towards SNGPL network under 3rd party pipeline access to sell gas.

The company has planned a CAPEX of $200 million for a period of FY23-FY24, however, materialization of this development hinges on various factors, including security conditions, operational disruptions etc.

As part of company’s aggressive strategy to acquire new exploration sites, company has won 11 blocks in 2 years (FY21 and FY22), taking cumulative blocks to 29.

According to management, gas reserves estimate for Bannu west-1 is 55 mmcfd, whereas it will take 7-8 months to come online depending upon on the security situation.

As per company, average production of Habib Rahi Limestone (HRL) is 630 mmcfd in which company is entitled to receive incremental pricing based on PP-12 on production above 525 mmcfd.

In recent development, company has successfully completed and tested its first ever horizontal development well in HRL reservoir at a gas rate of around 21mmcfd with a well head pressure of 426 Psi.