Pakistan Partners with Canadian Firm to Boost Domestic Heavy Crude Output
Key Takeaways
- •OGDC has signed an agreement with Canada's Synergetic Oil Tools Inc. to deploy Passive Energy Tool technology for enhancing heavy crude oil recovery in Pakistan.
- •The technology targets improved fluid characteristics, reduced workover frequency, lower downtime, decreased operating costs, and reduced production chemical usage in highly viscous crude wells.
- •Pakistan imports the vast majority of its crude oil, making domestic production growth a strategic priority for reducing a persistent energy import burden.
- •OGDC produces approximately 166,497 boepd, representing 49% of Pakistan's domestic crude oil output, 28% of natural gas, and 34% of LPG production.
- •OGDC recently announced an oil and gas discovery at its Baragzai X-01 exploratory well in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, continuing its expansion through new exploration activity.
Pakistan's Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDC), the nation's largest exploration and production firm, has signed an agreement with Canada's Synergetic Oil Tools Inc. to deploy advanced technology designed to increase production from heavy crude oilfields.
Under the partnership, OGDC will implement Passive Energy Tool technology aimed at optimizing and boosting output from heavy crude oil fields, the state-owned company announced.
The technology "is designed to improve flow assurance in highly viscous crude oil wells by optimizing fluid characteristics, reducing the frequency of workovers, minimizing well downtime, lowering operating costs and decreasing the use of production chemicals," OGDC said.
https://x.com/ogdclofficial/status/2084216849793974526
The agreement comes as Pakistan has been scrambling for oil supply since the Iran war began, despite its proximity to the Middle East and its role as a key mediator in some of the U.S.–Iran talks. The country imports the vast majority of the crude oil it consumes, making domestic production gains a strategic priority for narrowing a persistent energy import bill that has long weighed on foreign exchange reserves. Pakistan is working to boost domestic crude production to reduce its reliance on imports and to encourage Persian Gulf oil producers to establish crude reserve buffers at a planned Energy City near one of Pakistan's ports.
For OGDC, improving heavy crude recovery has direct economic significance. Heavy crude's high viscosity typically makes it more expensive to extract and process than lighter grades, meaning incremental gains in flow assurance and reductions in well downtime can materially improve per-well economics at mature fields.
OGDC holds the largest exploration acreage in Pakistan and the country's highest oil and gas reserves. The company produces approximately 166,497 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), accounting for nearly half — 49% — of domestic crude oil output, along with 28% of Pakistan's natural gas and 34% of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) production.
The state-owned firm operates key fields including Qadirpur, Nashpa, Mela, KPD-TAY, and Bettani, and continues to expand through new exploration blocks.
Earlier this year, OGDC announced an oil and gas discovery at its exploratory well Baragzai X-01 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. At the end of last year, Pakistan signed five oil and gas exploration deals with local private and state-owned companies to develop three offshore and two onshore blocks.
Source: OilPrice.com