Pakistan's largest oil and gas explorer has struck fresh gas and condensate in Sindh, with a newly drilled well delivering 12.8 million cubic feet of gas and 175 barrels of condensate per day during testing.
KARACHI, Nov. 11 (Focus Pakistan) - The newest OGDCL gas discovery comes from an exploratory well in Sindh’s Khairpur district, and its first test results comfortably top the licence’s 2025 Faakir-1 find.
The state-controlled explorer told the Pakistan Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday that its Bitrisim Northwest-1 well flowed 12.8 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (MMSCFD) and 175 barrels of condensate per day during testing. The gas came up through a 32/64-inch choke at a wellhead flowing pressure of 3,020 pounds per square inch (psi).
That pressure reading stands out. In February, OGDCL logged 1,725 psi at its Dars West-3 discovery in the same Lower Goru Formation and called it evidence of strong reservoir performance. Northwest-1 nearly doubles that figure.
OGDCL operates the Bitrisim Exploration License with a 95 percent working interest. Government Holdings (Private) Limited (GHPL) holds the remaining 5 percent.
The company spudded the well on August 21 and drilled it to a total depth of 3,732 metres, bottoming out in the Sembar Formation. Well logs pointed the team to the Basal Sands of the Lower Goru, where it ran a drill stem test. Less than three months separate the spud date from Wednesday’s disclosure.
A BLOCK THAT KEEPS GIVING
Bitrisim has turned into one of OGDCL’s busiest addresses in Sindh. In June 2025, the company reported its Faakir-1 discovery in the same licence, with tests showing 6.4 MMSCFD of gas and 55 barrels of condensate a day. Northwest-1 roughly doubles that gas rate and more than triples the condensate.
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Bitrism East-1 followed in October 2025. That well tested a combined 22.5 MMSCFD and 690 barrels of condensate a day across two Lower Goru zones, the Massive and Basal Sands.
OGDCL says it will connect Northwest-1 to the national gas gathering system on a fast-track basis for early monetisation. Its own recent record shows how long that road can run.
Bitrism East-1 began production only on October 22 this year, roughly a year after its discovery notice. It now delivers about 7 MMSCFD of gas and 200 barrels of condensate a day from its Basal Sands, through a 28-kilometre flowline OGDCL built in-house to the Sinjhoro processing plant. Processed gas from that well feeds the Sui Southern Gas Company network.
WHY KHAIRPUR MATTERS NOW
The find lands as Pakistan’s home-grown gas keeps shrinking. The government’s Annual Plan 2026-27 puts natural gas output for fiscal 2025-26 at 1.07 trillion cubic feet, short of the 1.16 trillion cubic feet target, as output from mature fields kept sliding. The Pakistan Economic Survey 2025-26 blamed a lack of new discoveries for a 3.7 percent fall in domestic gas production.
Imports offer no safe cushion either. In March, Iranian missile strikes forced QatarEnergy to halt LNG production, and Islamabad rushed to restore curtailed local output to plug the gap. Pakistan bought an estimated 5.26 million tonnes of LNG in FY26, against a plan of 6.5 million tonnes.
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Northwest-1 alone will not change that arithmetic. Its tested rate equals less than half a percent of the roughly 2,770 MMSCFD of indigenous gas the country averaged in the second half of 2025, according to market analysts.
OGDCL’s strategy, though, rests on stacking small wins. The company says it has made 19 oil and gas discoveries since 2023, and it put its reserve life at 17 years as of March 31, 2026, up from 14 years.
In Wednesday’s filing, OGDCL said the discovery would strengthen its reserves base and help close Pakistan’s energy demand-supply gap through indigenous resources. The date gas from Northwest-1 first reaches the pipeline will show how fast that promise turns into supply.
