According to comments from Abdullah Hussain Haroon, Pakistan’s Minister for Maritime Affairs and Foreign Affairs, ExxonMobil is on the verge of discovering huge new oil reserves in the country close to its border with Iran.
US-based oil major ExxonMobil, which also makes lubricants for Mobil UK stockists, is said to be optimistic about the prospect. Some reports estimate that the find could be large enough to propel Pakistan ahead of Kuwait in terms of oil reserves, giving it the potential to become one of the world’s top ten oil producers.
If the find plays out, it should also help the current account deficit that Pakistan currently faces. At the moment, the country can only meet 15% of its petroleum needs with domestic oil production.
The find will also be a boost to ExxonMobil’s own proven oil reserves. The company signed up to a 25% stake in Pakistan’s offshore Indus Block G, partnering with Pakistan’s Government Holdings Pvt Ltd, Italian oil major Eni, and Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL).
In other news, ExxonMobil recently sold its stake in some Russian-based joint projects to Rosneft following a decision in March to withdraw from them in the wake of sanctions imposed by the US in 2014. The company has previously stated that the move is expected to result in a $200 million post-tax loss. ExxonMobil will continue to participate in Russian operations unaffected by the sanctions, however, such as the Sakhalin-1 project in the far east of Russia.
