ISLAMABAD – The Ministry of Energy has announced the results of the Offshore Bid Round 2025, marking the country’s first competitive bidding for offshore petroleum exploration licenses in 18 years. The bid round, launched in January 2025, offered 40 offshore blocks as part of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s vision to enhance energy security, indigenization, and local resource development.
Before the process began, the Ministry prepared a Model Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) and introduced new Offshore Petroleum Rules, ensuring transparency and competitiveness for investors. A basin study by the U.S.-based DeGolyer and MacNaughton (D&M) highlighted substantial untapped hydrocarbon potential in Pakistan’s Indus and Makran offshore basins, encouraging renewed exploration.
Read More: Pakistan awards 23 offshore oil blocks to local and foreign consortiums
The Bid Opening Committee, chaired by the Director General Petroleum Concessions (DGPC), publicly opened bids in the presence of representatives from Sindh and Balochistan, ensuring transparency. The response was termed “encouraging,” with bids received for 23 offshore blocks covering about 53,510 square kilometers.
Successful bidders include national energy companies OGDCL, PPL, MariEnergies, and Prime Energy, alongside international and private-sector firms such as Turkish Petroleum (TPAO), United Energy, Orient Petroleum, and Fatima Petroleum. Their participation reflects growing global investor confidence in Pakistan’s upstream energy sector.
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In Phase-I, companies have committed 4,427 work units, equating to an investment of USD 80 million. If exploration drilling proceeds, total investments could reach USD 750 million to 1 billion. This phase will focus on geophysical and geological studies, seismic data analysis, and basin modeling to identify potential drilling targets.
The government plans to invite major international oil companies for Phase-II after completing geological studies. Recently, Turkey’s TPAO acquired a 25% stake and operatorship in offshore block-C, signaling deepening bilateral cooperation in energy development.
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Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated the successful bidders, lauding their confidence in Pakistan’s energy sector. He reaffirmed the government’s commitment to facilitate and fast-track offshore exploration, calling the results a “major milestone” in securing Pakistan’s energy future.