ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s state-owned Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) said this week it had signed an agreement with Canada’s Synergetic Oil Tools Inc. to deploy advanced technology at the country’s heavy oil wells in a bid to boost crude oil production.
Pakistan has been seeking to increase domestic oil and gas production to curb its reliance on costly energy imports, which place significant pressure on the country’s foreign exchange reserves and current account.
Under the agreement, Synergetic will introduce its Passive Energy Tool technology, which OGDCL said is designed to improve production from highly viscous crude oil wells by optimizing fluid properties, reducing well interventions and downtime, lowering operating costs and decreasing the use of production chemicals.
“As part of the agreement, Synergetic will deploy Passive Energy Tool technology at OGDCL’s heavy oil wells to optimize production,” the company said in a post on X after the agreement was signed in Islamabad in the presence of its Chief Executive Officer Ahmed Hayat Lak, Synergetic Oil Tools President and CEO Brian Herman, and Canadian High Commissioner to Pakistan Tarik Ali Khan.
Speaking at the ceremony, Khan said Canada was bringing “world-class technology and services” to Pakistan’s oil and gas sector to enhance heavy crude oil extraction and production.
Pakistan spent Rs4.4 trillion ($16 billion) on petroleum imports last year, according to official data, with most supplies sourced from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.
The agreement comes as Pakistan pursues broader reforms across its energy sector to reduce import dependence.
In July, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb discussed refinery modernization with US industrial technology company Honeywell, while officials said in May they were accelerating a long-delayed $6 billion refinery upgrade project.
