Eni announces major Pakistani gas find

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MILAN, Italy, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Italian energy company Eni said Wednesday that a natural gas discovery in Pakistan may hold as much as 400 billion cubic feet worth of reserves.

Eni announced it made a "significant" gas discovery about 200 miles north of Karachi in the Badhra exploration concession.

The Badhra B North-1 exploratory well encountered more than 175 feet of net gas pay.

"The size of the discovery is currently estimated at between 300 billion and 400 billion cubic feet of gas in place and its delineation will require further appraisal wells," the company said in a statement.

The discovery was made about 12 miles from a gas processing facility. The Italian energy company said the recent find was part of a new strategy in Pakistan aimed at confirming "significant exploration potential."

Negotiations are under way, the company added, to accelerate production in order to realize the commercialization of natural gas and reduce Pakistan's energy deficit.

Rolling blackouts are common in parts of Pakistan. The country has embraced strategies with gas-rich Iran and Turkmenistan to host parts of multilateral natural gas pipelines from the region.