Petroleum Exploration History of Pakistan

Archeology records that stone implements were attached to wood or bone handles with the help of sticky bitumen (a tarry substance) at least 36,000 years ago. The ancient Egyptians coated mummies with pitch. About 600 B.C. Bitumen bound the walls of both Jericho and Babylon; it was also used as a sealant in the construction of brick baths as early as 3000 B.C. Also as Hydrocarbon seepage were found all over the world so the Ancient people might have been used them as energy source.

Ancient Peoples used crude oil for fuel, as a sealant, as body paint, and for medicinal purposes hundreds of years before the first white settlers arrived. A major breakthrough in the use of petroleum occurred in the 1840's, when a Canadian geologist named Abraham Gesner discovered kerosene. This fuel could be distilled from coal or oil. Kerosene became widely used for lighting lamps, and oil quickly rose in value.

Petroleum exploration in Pakistan began more than a century ago. The first well was drilled in 1866 at oil seepage Kundal in the Mianwali District of Punjab Province. Right after seven year of World’s 1st well Drilled in 1859 in Titusville, Pennsylvania by Edwin Drake.