Claim: An image shows a gas field in Kalat, Balochistan.
Fact: The picture predates the discovery of a gas field in Kalat in 2019.
On 25 June, X user @Jam_Baloch posted (archived) a picture of a gas field, along with the following caption: “Baloch freedom fighters (BLA) have captured 3 military outposts of Pakistani occupation force providing protection to the gas field & a military base in Iskalkoo, Kalat. The gas reserve was discovered in 2020 & is said to contain over 1 trillion cubic feet of gas in #Balochistan.”
The image accompanying the post is meant to show the same gas field in Iskalkoo, Kalat that is mentioned in the caption.
The Balochistan Post (archived), which is not accessible from Pakistan, reported that the BLA militants attacked and captured army outposts protecting the Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) gas field in Kalat on 24 June. However, Dawn reported that the security forces foiled the attack that included some 50 militants.
The discovery of one trillion cubic feet of gas reserves in Kalat was made in 2019.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse searched the picture in the claim and found that multiple publications have used the same image in news reports about various countries, which were published as early as 2016.
In 2016, Vakarų ekspresas, (translated from Lithuanian: Western Express), carried the image from the claim in an article about China’s stabilizing economy, as the “GDP grew by 6.7 percent” at the time.
Moreover, Radio Freedom also published the same image, first in an article about the Republic of Congo in August 2016, and then in September 2016 when OPEC countries “significantly expanded oil production.”
Dunya News’ article from December 2022 about the discovery of gas reserves in Sanghar, Sindh, carries the image of a gas field ablaze, which is an exact match of the picture in the claim.
In December 2020, Attaqa.net published this image in an article about gas prices rising in the US due to the cold weather. The same publication also carried the exact image further down in its report when gas was discovered in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province of Pakistan in September 2022.
Even though Soch Fact Check could not locate the exact origin and source of the image, depicting gas fields, we can confirm that it appeared online as early as 2016, and, therefore, does not show gas reserves in Kalat, which were found in 2019.
Virality
The X post garnered some 13,800 views.
It was also shared on X here.
The Facebook account of Kuwait City News linked this image to the discovery of oil and gas reserves in KPK in 2022.
Business Recorder’s article posted the same image in a report on the discovery of gas reserves in Kalat in 2020.
Conclusion: An image does not show the Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) oil and gas site in Kalat which was found in 2019. The image has appeared in articles published as early as 2016, and has been associated with various countries over the years.
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Background image in cover photo: freeworldmaps.net
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