OGDCL, PINSTECH sign agreement to assess lithium, rare earth potential in produced water

ISLAMABAD: Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) has signed an agreement with the Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (PINSTECH) for advanced elemental and radioactive profiling of produced water and brine, as the state-owned exploration company expands its focus towards lithium, rare earth elements and other critical minerals.

The agreement was signed at OGDCL headquarters in Islamabad in the presence of Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Ahmed Hayat Lak, senior management of OGDCL and representatives of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) and PINSTECH.

Under the agreement, PINSTECH will conduct Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP)-based elemental profiling of produced water and brine obtained from selected OGDCL wells. The exercise will focus on identifying and quantifying lithium, rare earth elements, precious metals and radioactive elements contained in the water streams associated with oil and gas production.

More than 2,000 samples are planned to be collected from candidate wells to determine the presence and concentration of lithium and other rare and critical earth metals.

The large-scale sampling exercise is expected to establish a comprehensive geochemical database of OGDCL’s produced water resources. It will also help rank wells according to their lithium and rare earth element concentrations and map areas with varying levels of mineral content.

According to the company, the data generated through the exercise will provide a technical basis for assessing the feasibility of Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) from produced water and geothermal brines.

The initiative represents a potential shift in the way produced water from oil and gas operations is viewed. Traditionally treated primarily as a waste stream requiring handling and disposal, produced water can contain dissolved minerals and metals that could potentially be recovered using emerging extraction technologies.

OGDCL is seeking to determine whether these resources can be commercially and technically exploited, particularly at a time when lithium and rare earth elements have assumed greater importance because of their applications in batteries, electric vehicles, renewable energy technologies and other advanced industrial uses.

The agreement forms part of OGDCL’s broader diversification strategy beyond conventional oil and gas exploration and production. The company has been examining opportunities in minerals and new energy resources, including lithium and rare earth elements associated with produced water and geothermal brines.

OGDCL has already conducted a pilot exercise at the Wahid Bukhsh-01 well, where geothermal brine was reported to contain 291 milligrams per litre of lithium. The company says the concentration is comparable with levels reported from some leading geothermal lithium brine resources internationally.

The latest agreement with PINSTECH is expected to expand the scope of the assessment from individual wells to a broader geochemical profiling programme. By collecting and analysing more than 2,000 samples, the exercise could help identify areas where mineral concentrations are sufficiently high to warrant further technical and economic evaluation.

The profiling of radioactive elements will also provide additional information on the composition of the produced water and brines and support a more comprehensive assessment of the resources associated with OGDCL’s producing assets.

The initiative comes amid growing global interest in securing supplies of critical minerals and developing domestic sources of materials considered important for energy transition and advanced manufacturing.

For Pakistan, the recovery of lithium and other critical minerals from existing oil and gas operations could potentially offer an additional resource base without requiring entirely new exploration areas. However, the commercial viability of such projects would ultimately depend on mineral concentrations, extraction technology, recovery rates, environmental considerations and the economics of processing and refining.

The OGDCL-PINSTECH agreement will therefore provide an important scientific and technical dataset for determining which wells and geological areas merit further investigation and possible pilot-scale extraction.

The company said the expanded profiling programme reflects its efforts to identify new opportunities within its existing resource portfolio while supporting Pakistan’s broader energy and minerals security objectives.