The gas that built Pakistan but left Balochistan behind

According to a column in The Express Tribune, Balochistan once met 82% of the country's gas demand until 1982, almost all of it from Dera Bugti. That share fell to 55% by 1995 and 25% a decade later, and it now stands at roughly 20%. The writer links the trend partly to worsening security, which appears to be slowing the replacement of depleting reserves.

The column notes that only 6% of Pakistan's roughly 1,250 exploratory wells have been drilled in Balochistan, leaving about 90% of the province largely unexplored. It argues that a peaceful province could open a fresh phase of exploration and help halt the decline in domestic oil and gas output. Gas output is now around 3,100 mmscfd and oil about 72,000 bpd, below the peaks reached in 2012 for gas and 2015 for oil.

On community engagement, the writer says E&P companies should avoid favouring a small local elite and benefit the whole community. The state collects royalty worth tens of billions of Rs a year, yet many oil and gas districts remain as backward as when production began. The column cites an SDPI study placing Dera Bugti, with an HDI of 0.236, among the ten least developed districts, all of them in Balochistan.