By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: The government has released funds amounting to Rs298.183 million during first 10 months of the of current fiscal year to execute six petroleum projects under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP 2019-20) against the total allocation of Rs 581.812 million.
According to the official data as of April 24, an amount of Rs10.553 million has been provided to explore and evaluate coal in Nosham and Bahlol areas of Balochistan, which stood 100 percent of allocation made in the PSDP.
While, Rs 54 million have been released against the allocation of Rs70 million for expansion and up-gradation of Pakistan Petroleum Corehouse (PETCORE) to ensure its sustainable operations and facilitate oil and gas exploration research in the country.
Similarly, a sum of Rs 60.252 million has been provided under a project to up-grade Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan (HDIP)’s POL testing facilities at Islamabad, Lahore, Multan, Peshawar, Quetta and ISO Certification of Petroleum Testing Laboratory at Islamabad. This year, the government will spend Rs 77.960 million for up-gradation of the HDIP labs.
An amount of Rs 166.614 million has been issued for acquiring new drilling rigs and equipment, while Rs 3.655 for appraisal of newly discovered coal resources in Badin Coal-field and its adjoining areas of southern Sindh.
Whereas, an amount of Rs 3.109 million has been disbursed for exploration and evaluation of metallic minerals in Uthal and Bela areas of Lasbela district, Balochistan.
