OGDCL Partners With PINSTECH to Accelerate Pakistan’s Hunt for Lithium Resources to Power Homegrown Battery Industry; Over 2,000 Water Samples to Be Tested
KARACHI: The Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) has made a significant stride in a formal partnership with the Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (PINSTECH) to evaluate over 2,000 water samples from wells for the presence of lithium and rare earth elements.
The project is part of Pakistan’s speedy push to find domestic lithium supplies as demand for lithium-ion batteries grows in the country and the world for renewable energy storage, solar power, and EVs.
The main highlights of OGDCL’s Partnership and Pakistan’s Lithium Exploration Drive are as follows:
Pilot study results are promising with evidence of lithium in water samples collected from the Wahid Bakhsh-01 well in Sindh at 291 milligrams per liter (mg/L) well above the 90 mg/L threshold that is generally considered to have commercial potential, however, more research is needed to establish the extent of the resource.
Powering a Local Industry & Reducing Imports: Pakistan imported approximately 5.39 GWh of lithium-ion batteries between 2025 and May 2026. The identification of domestic deposits will reduce the need for imports, significantly bolster local battery production and assembly, and create opportunities for recycling and future energy storage businesses.
To move from geological potential to full scale commercial production will require substantial foreign investment, specialized technical knowledge, innovative recycling and energy storage solutions, and state of the art manufacturing facilities.
Attracting Global Investment: The Pakistan Minerals Investment Forum aims to be a flagship forum to attract investors from around the world to invest in the emerging mineral exploration and advanced battery industries of Pakistan.