KARACHI: The recent attempt to find oil and gas reserves off the shore of Karachi has been futile as no hydrocarbons reserves were found.

The drilling process at the Kekra-1 well has been finished and a report in this regard has been sent to PM Imran Khan. Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs, Ali Zaidi said earlier that drilling process for the discovery of oil and gas is in final stage and the results would be clear after a few days. Zaidi had said the drilling process is not completed yet but a pressure signal was received at the depth of 5474 meters during drilling.He said the drilling would continue till the depth of 5000 meters.

ExxonMobil, ENI, Oil and Gas Development Company and Pakistan Petroleum Limited conducted the drilling to determine the real size of the oil and gas reserves in the Kekra-1 well, located around 280 km away from Karachi coast. The group of multinational companies had begun offshore drilling on 11th January 2019. The drilling was expected to be completed in March 2019 as per initial estimation. ENI ensured the completion of offshore drilling despite critical situations faced during the drilling process.=DNA