The government of Pakistan has released Rs640.19 million for nine ongoing petroleum-related projects under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP 2022-23) against a total allocation of Rs1.48 billion, according to the official data available with WealthPK. Out of the total disbursement of Rs640.19 million, around Rs24.24 million has been spent on petroleum projects to accelerate oil and gas exploration activities during the first half of the Fiscal Year 2022-23 (July-December).

As per the PSDP document, the incumbent government had earmarked  Rs150.560 million for establishment of National Mineral Data Centre (NMDC) Directorate General of Minerals, Rs303.700 million for expansion and upgradation of Pakistan Petroleum Corehouse (PETCORE) for its sustainable operations to facilitate oil and gas exploration research in Pakistan (HDIP), Rs100 million for geological mapping on 50 toposheets out of 354 unmapped toposheets of Outcrop Area of Balochistan, Rs70 million for legal consultancy services for drafting Model Mineral Agreement and updating Regulatory Framework (Federal and Provincial Minerals/Coal Departments) and Rs200 million for Pakistan National Research Programme on Geological Hazards (Earthquakes and Landslides) - Data Acquisition along Active Faults and Identification of Potential Landslides Hotspot Zones.

Similarly, an amount of Rs224.809 million was specified for strengthening and upgrading Karachi Laboratories Complex (KLC) at the HDIP Operations Office, Karachi, Rs100 million to supply 10 MMCFD gas/RLNG to the doorstep (zero point) of Bostan Special Economic Zone, Balochistan (SSGCL), Rs74.705 million to supply 13 MMCFD gas/RLNG to the doorstep (zero point) of Bin Qasim Industrial Park Special Economic Zone, Sindh (SSGCL) and Rs256.735 million to supply 40 MMCFD gas/RLNG to the doorstep (zero point) of Allama Iqbal Industrial City Special Economic Zone, Faisalabad (SNGPL).

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk