Claim: People in Pakistan can get free petrol for their cars after the discovery of a grand, new petrol reserve in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Fact: The reserve was in fact discovered in July 2021 and the specifics of the discovery differ slightly from what is claimed in the news piece.
On 30 September 2021, news reports emerged claiming that “huge reserves of petrol have been found in Pakistan”, as a result of which people in Pakistan will be able to “fill petrol in cars for free” and the “eyes of the whole world [will be] on Pakistan”.
The news quickly spread across various news-gathering websites, none of which have proper ‘About Us’ sections or contact information.
Soch Fact Check was sent the link to one of the news websites to verify the authenticity of the claims made in the report.
Soch Fact Check found that numerous such reports have been released since July 2021, the month in which the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) sent a letter to the stock exchanges in Karachi and London announcing a “gas and condensate discovery over Kawagarh Formation”.
According to McKinsey Energy Insights, “condensate” refers to “a mixture of light liquid hydrocarbons, similar to a very light (high API) crude oil.” Condensate “is typically separated out of a natural gas stream at the point of production” and “is generally treated like a crude oil” once it is separated from natural gas. “There are some condensates containing up to 40% of jet fuel and diesel that are priced higher than crude oil,” the website states.
Dated 29 July 2021, the OGDCL letter states that the discovery was a result of “exploratory efforts at well Wali # 01” in the Lakki Marwat Subdivision of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. According to the letter, the well was drilled to a depth of 4,727 metres, with tests confirming the presence of gas and condensate reserves of 11.8 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) and 945 barrels per day (BPD) respectively, at a flowing pressure of 3,000 pounds per square inch (PSI).
A copy of the letter sent by OGDCL Secretary Ahmed Hayat Lak to the PSX
The letter further states that the discovery was the first of its kind in the Kawagarh formation; however, there was no indication that “huge reserves” were discovered, as the news reports claimed, or indeed reserves significant enough for the world to turn its attention towards Pakistan.
The significance of the new discovery may be ascertained by the OGDCL’s average net production of crude oil and gas for September 2021, which was 37,669 bpd and 853 mmscfd, respectively, whereas the Kawagarh Formation in Lakki Marwat is 11.8 mmscfd and 945 bpd, respectively.
The top three websites that reported and/or reproduced the news alleging the discovery of “huge reserves” were News 92 PK, Bulletin Observer, and Rozana Urdu News. As at 20 October 2021, Bulletin Observer’s report (written in English) seems to have been taken down; it can, however, be found in Google’s Web Cache.
Screenshots of news-gathering websites, which seem to have replicated word-to-word the same report
Other news-gathering websites that reproduced the report included Newsbeads, Qahani, Digital Pakistani TV, Daily Awaaz, Wave Newz, Pak 92 News, Daily Ausaf, Aitmaad TV, and Khanjee, among others. Many of these websites tend to post pieces under clickbait headlines — this may be to bolster revenue given the pages are cluttered with advertisements.
The reports about the discovery are identical or near-identical across these various websites, with the text of English language pieces closely resembling text churned out when translating the Urdu language reports using Google Translate — including minor translation errors.
As demonstrated in the image below, the text from the News 92 PK report translated into English matched the text in the reports by Bulletin Observer and Rozana Urdu News.
Soch Fact Check used Google Translate to translate a portion of the text from the report published by News 92 PK (top-right). Some errors arose in the translation process: the phrase ‘90 dollars’ when translated from Urdu to English read as ‘90 90’, while the phrase ‘80 dollars’ was entirely unchanged by the translation. Both errors appear in the Rozana Urdu News’ report. However, if only two sentences are pasted into Google Translate, ‘80 dollars’ in an Urdu sentence becomes ‘80 80’ in English — which is what appears in the cached version of the Bulletin Observer.
Although not certain, the websites appear to be run by the same people or organizations, considering the similarities between information shared, website design, and cursory introduction pages, among other things.
Using CrowdTangle, Soch Fact Check found that over 50 posts about the alleged discovery of huge reserves with links to the websites mentioned above garnered more than 12,500 interactions. The highest number of interactions, 7,500, was recorded on 11 October.
The news card from ARY News’ bulletin shows the wrong figures
More reputed media outlets also ran pieces about the discovery. The Express Tribune, Daily Times, and ARY News ran news reports on the topic between 7-8 September 2021. Both The Express Tribune and Daily Times reported that the discovery was made in Hangu Formation, whereas the correct site is Kawagarh Formation. Meanwhile, ARY News reported the wrong figures, incorrectly stating that the gas and condensate reserves measured at 11.361 MMSCFD and 895 BPD respectively, whereas the correct figures, according to the OGDCL letter, are 11.8 MMSCFD and 945 BPD respectively.
Soch Fact Check verified the authenticity of the OGDCL letter with a mid-level manager at the company. The source, who asked to remain anonymous, noted that the July 29 letter was the only one issued on the subject. A day after the letter was issued, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib tweeted the OGDCL’s press release, providing further confirmation that the letter is authentic.
اوجی ڈی سی ایل نے لکی مروت کے قریب گیس اور تیل کے ذخائر دریافت کر لئے ہیں، جہاں سے 11ملین ایم ایس سی ایف ڈی گیس اور950بیرل آئ یومیہ کی بنیاد پر حاصل ہوگا۔یہاں نکلنے والی گیس ہیٹنگ ویلیو 1150بی ٹی یو ہے جو بہترین معیار ہے۔اس بلاک میں یہ پہلی دریافت ہے pic.twitter.com/72x5UFd3Cl
— Farrukh Habib (@FarrukhHabibISF) July 30, 2021
The current price of petrol in Pakistan has reached a record high earlier this month when the PTI-led government hiked it more than 8% to Rs137.79 per litre.
Conclusion: The discovery of a new gas and condensate reserve does not mean people will get petrol for free in Pakistan. According to the OGDCL, the July 2021 discovery of the new reserves was unique because it was the first of its kind in the Kawagarh Formation, not because the reserves are particularly grand or huge.