A Turkish seismic survey vessel will reach Karachi between November 17 and 20 to start offshore oil and gas exploration, the Petroleum Division said on Friday. The government calls it the revival of Pakistan’s offshore search after nearly two decades.
The meeting that set the date
Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik chaired a meeting on Friday to go over the arrangements for the arrival of the vessel, which belongs to the Turkish Petroleum Offshore Company (TPOC). TPOC’s project manager attended, along with the petroleum secretary and additional secretary, the director general of petroleum concessions, and the heads of three state-owned companies: Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) and Government Holdings Private Limited. Officials from the foreign, maritime, defence and interior ministries, the Board of Investment, the National Hydrographic Office and the Directorate General of Ports and Shipping also joined, which gives a sense of how many agencies have to clear a ship for work in Pakistani waters.
Malik called the arrival “a new chapter” in friendship with Turkiye and said he would try to receive the vessel in Karachi in person. The Petroleum Division described it as a milestone in Pakistan-Turkiye relations, particularly after the signing of the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement. Dawn reported separately on Friday that Turkey’s parliament had approved that pact, which we covered in our report on its text and ratification.
Who owns what in the block
TPOC, a subsidiary of Turkish Petroleum Corporation, has partnered with local state companies in three blocks. The main one is the Eastern Offshore Indus-C block in the Arabian Sea off Pakistan:
| Company | Share in Indus-C |
|---|---|
| Turkish Petroleum Offshore Company (operator) | 25% |
| Pakistan Petroleum Limited | 35% |
| OGDCL | 20% |
| Mari Energies | 20% |
PPL, which has already carried out 2D and 3D surveys of the block, estimates it holds 1.5 to 2 trillion cubic feet of gas. TPOC also holds stakes in two onshore blocks: 25 per cent in Sukhpur-II and 10 per cent in Ziarat North.
Why the gap of almost twenty years
The government was unable to auction offshore blocks from 2006 to 2007 for various reasons, Dawn reported, and earlier exploration in the offshore basin did not produce a successful find. The Offshore Bid Round 2025 was launched in January last year, after a gap of 18 years, and offered 40 blocks in the Indus and Makran offshore basins near the waters of Sindh and Balochistan.
What a seismic vessel does, and what it cannot promise
A seismic vessel tows equipment that sends sound waves into the seabed and records the echoes. Geologists use the results to map the rock layers beneath the sea floor and decide where to drill. It is an early step: the survey does not find gas by itself, and only drilling can show whether a reservoir holds commercially useful amounts. The 1.5 to 2 trillion cubic feet figure is PPL’s own estimate from its earlier surveys, not a confirmed reserve.
Why it matters
Pakistan has struggled with gas supply this winter, as our report on SSGC’s fixed three-slot schedule for homes showed,. New domestic gas would take years to reach homes even if the drilling succeeds, so this is not a fix for this winter. The political side is also notable: the project ties energy to the closer defence and economic links with Turkiye, which we have followed in our stories on the Badr defence-industry pact and on Turkish help with a foot-and-mouth vaccine.
What to watch is whether the vessel arrives on schedule, how long the survey takes, when the first well is drilled, and whether the 2025 licence round brings other companies to the Indus and Makran blocks.
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