Pakistan is opening new areas for oil and gas exploration through competitive bidding that will push massive exploration activities in the country.

This was stated by Minister for Energy Muhammad Hammad Azhar in a meeting with Ambassador of Japan, Kuninori Matsuda in Islamabad today (Monday).The Minister said the opening of new areas will not only increase local oil and gas productions but also save a lot of foreign exchange now used for imports of these commodities.

He said International Companies, including Japanese must participate in the competitive bidding as they are vital for massive exploration targets.