MOL Group announced a new hydrocarbon discovery in the Karak Block in Pakistan. The block is operated by Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL) with 60% working interest while MOL Pakistan Oil & Gas Co. B.V has 40% in the block.

MOL has a well-established track record of 17 years in Pakistan and holds equity stakes in five blocks in the country. MOL Pakistan acquired working interest in the Karak Block in 2008. Oil was first discovered in 2011 with the Halini-1 exploration well. During 2015, Halini Deep-1 and Kalabagh-1 exploration wells were spudded and completed. Testing of Kalabagh was completed and resulted in a discovery in 2015, which was the second discovery in the Block. The present successful testing of the Halini Deep-1 well marks the third discovery in the Karak Block.

In the Upper Indus area, MOL is also present in the Ghauri and Margala fields and is the operator of the TAL block, where MOL is currently responsible for about 80,000 boepd production on a 100% basis. Additionally, in 2015 MOL acquired a 30% non-operated stake in the DG Khan Block which marked the entry in the Middle Indus region.

Berislav Gašo, MOL Group’s E&P COO commented the discovery: “We are very proud of our 11th discovery in Pakistan. In the past 17 years, the exploration teams led by MOL in Pakistan have successfully de-risked more than 400 MMBOE in 2P reserves. This well, which is operated by Mari Petroleum, adds to this success series and will also help to improve the energy security of the country. We are thankful for our cooperation with our partner, Mari Petroleum. Our exploration and development efforts in Pakistan contribute to the success of our New Upstream Program, which aims at making MOL Group’s portfolio self-funding even in a 35 USD/bbl oil price environment. Our Pakistani operations are a crucial building block in these efforts and we believe that there is further upside ahead of us in Pakistan.”

Technical details of the discovery:

The Halini-Deep-1 discovery constitutes as the third consequent discovery in the block following two previous successes (Halini-X-1 in 2011 and Kalabagh-1A in 2015). The Halini-Deep-1 well was drilled to a depth of 5,900 metres. Subsequent to the drill-stem test, a new, deeper reservoir (Samana Suk) was added to the already known higher reservoirs (Lumshiwal, Hangu, Lockhart). The completion integrity test has been conducted with flow rates of 1,425 bopd oil and 1.18 mmscf/day gas (~200 boepd). Operator expects first oil by end of H1.

About MOL Group

MOL Group is an integrated, independent, international oil and gas company, headquartered in Budapest, Hungary. It is active in over 40 countries with a dynamic international workforce of 27,000 people and a track record of more than 100 years in the industry. MOL’s exploration and production activities are supported by more than 75 years’ experience in the hydrocarbon field. At the moment, there are production activities in 8 countries and exploration assets in 14 countries. MOL Group operates four refineries and two petrochemicals plants, under integrated supply chain management, in Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia, and owns a network of more nearly 2,000 service stations across 11 countries in Central & South Eastern Europe.