Practice Area
Oil & Gas Law & Regulations in Pakistan
International Legal Partners
Oil & Gas Law & Regulations in Pakistan
Soft Law Firm's market leading Oil & Gas practice advises governments and NOCs (National Oil Companies), IOCs (International Oil Companies), Independent Oil and Gas Companies, and funders (debt and equity) on all aspects of the oil and gas supply chain, including upstream (exploration and production), midstream (storage and transportation), downstream (fuels and lubricants, marketing and refining, retail and chemicals) as well as the LNG and related productions.
Our integrated practice advises clients on transactions relating to project development, M&A (both public and private), funding (equity, debt and Islamic financing), energy and emissions trading and litigation and arbitration. All of these transactions are supported by our market leading experts in areas such as taxation, antitrust, regulatory, environment and employment, to name but a few.
Soft Law Firm has been at the forefront of this market, advising IOCs, NOCs and host governments, sponsors, funders (equity and debt), and contractors on market leading transactions globally.
History
Petroleum (L. petroleum, from Greek , lit. "rock oil", first used in the treatise De Natura Fossilium published in 1546 by the German mineralogist Georg Bauer, known as Georgius Agricola[1]) or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid found in rock formations in the Earth consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights, plus other organic compounds.
Composition
The proportion of hydrocarbons in the mixture is highly variable and ranges from as much as 97% by weight in the lighter oils to as little as 50% in the heavier oils and bitumens. The hydrocarbons in crude oil are mostly alkanes, cycloalkanes and various aromatic hydrocarbons while the other organic compounds contain nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur, and trace amounts of metals such as iron, nickel, copper and vanadium. The exact molecular composition varies widely from formation to formation but the proportion of chemical elements vary over fairly narrow limits as follows:
| Element | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Carbon | 83 to 87% |
| Hydrogen | 10 to 14% |
| Nitrogen | 0.1 to 2% |
| Oxygen | 0.1 to 1.5% |
| Sulfur | 0.5 to 6% |
| Metals | less than 1000 ppm |
Table: Elements and their Percent Range
Octane, a hydrocarbon found in petroleum, lines are single bonds, black spheres are carbon, white spheres are hydrogen
Crude oil varies greatly in appearance depending on its composition. It is usually black or dark brown (although it may be yellowish or even greenish). In the reservoir it is usually found in association with natural gas, which being lighter forms a gas cap over the petroleum, and saline water which being heavier generally floats underneath it. Crude oil may also be found in semi-solid form mixed with sand as in the Athabasca oil sands in Canada, where is usually referred to as crude bitumen. In Canada, bitumen is considered a sticky, tar-like form of crude oil which is so thick and heavy that it must be heated or diluted before it will flow.Four different types of hydrocarbon molecules appear in crude oil. The relative percentage of each varies from oil to oil, determining the properties of each oil.
| Hydrocarbon | Average | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Paraffins | 30% | 15 to 60% |
| Naphthenes | 49% | 30 to 60% |
| Aromatics | 15% | 3 to 30% |
| Asphaltics | 6% |