Offshore Drilling Near Karachi Coast Completed

[Enigma SIG]

Can I don a choga now and move to Karachi? Do we have a Lamborghini showroom in Karachi?

 

[Jaanbaz]

What about Venezuela??

How do you know Venezuela didn't have a prophet to pray for their country to have oil too?

 

[Meengla]

I can’t answer the Venezuela equation but as for Nigeria the little that I can recall of the corruption in oil industry is generally a Sub-Saharan problem not just Nigeria. The problem there is the elite is even more isolated from the population than Pakistan. Look at Angola & South Sudan which are oil rich but 75% of population still impoverished.

In Nigeria right now electricity generation is 40% of Pakistan. The split between rural area & urban as well as north/south divide.

I think Pakistan has much better chance of making use of oil as long as media/people keep an eye on the corrupt parties - but as I can see the good thing might be if you find decent reseves but nothing too big. A sweet spot of 10bn barrels will be ideal.

Good post. It often requires someone from the outside to give a better picture.
Pakistanis are the perpetual breast-beating people. I am over 50 and I have seen it all my life: Always there's 'corruption', always there's 'mehangai' (inflation), always there's electric load-shedding, always there's crimes in the society...

But look at the streets of Pakistan. Do you see people starving? Do you see people cowering in basements because of violence? Do you see all lights off everywhere? Even in global statistics numbers are not always at the bottom.

Issues in Pakistan are not because of 'corruption' only. Corruption is universal. India's parliament is full of tainted politicians, for example. We fail to notice that Pakistan was pretty reasonably placed well into the 1980s. The issues facing Pakistan are primarily because of the losses to the economy directly or indirectly since the violence got introduced because of 9/11. What's the number: $200 billion loss? 70,000 casualties? THAT is what's has kept Pakistan back! But even that factor is reversing.

Anyway, if this govt survives, then mark my word: At least on corruption and governance indices, Pakistan will be globally very well placed in next very few years. Not much is hidden anymore from the media, the judiciary, the sleuths of the ISI, and even from the public.

Please keep up your good work @Mamadouso !