No oil, gas reserves found at Kekra-1: Petroleum Division

Offshore drilling at the Kekra-1 site has found no reserves of oil and gas, according to officials of the Petroleum Division.

Hours after Prime Minister Imran Khan reiterated that there is a chance of discovering "massive reserves at the site by next week", the Petroleum Division authorities confirmed that the drill did not yield the desired results.

"ExxonMobil. ENI, PPL and OGDC were conducting the drill at Kekra-1. More than 5,500-metre-deep drilling was conducted but oil and gas reserves were not found. The drilling work has now been abandoned," the officials told DawnNewsTV.

"The cost of the drill was estimated at Rs15 billion," the official added.

The development came after Prime Minister Imran and members of his cabinet on multiple occasions fuelled the hopes of Pakistan "hitting an oil and gas jackpot" — the latest of which came earlier today during his speech at a fundraising event in Peshawar for the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre.

"A well is being dug near Karachi, and it seems that we would know within one week ... and it is possible that we could find such a massive gas reserve that Pakistan would never have to purchase gas from outside," the premier said.