Pakistan has formally reopened its offshore oil and gas exploration sector after nearly 20 years, a significant step toward boosting domestic energy resources and attracting investment.

The government has signed Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs) and Exploration Licences (ELs) for the 23 offshore blocks awarded under the Offshore Bid Round 2025. Federal Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik was present at the signing event.

The officials said the bid round encompassed over 54,600 square kilometres in the Indus and Makran offshore basins along the coastal waters of Sindh and Balochistan.

The Ministry of Petroleum said two blocks were awarded earlier in December 2025, while the remaining 21 agreements have now been concluded, completing the full offshore licensing structure.

Officials said the achievement was an important milestone to spur offshore exploration, increase international and local investment and reduce dependence on imported energy.

The government said the potential of Pakistan’s offshore area is around 282,623 square kilometers and only a few exploration wells had been completed since independence.

Companies will first conduct geological and geophysical research, including seismic data collecting and interpretation in Phase-I under the new framework. If the results are positive, exploratory drilling will follow in Phase-II.

Mari Energies was the biggest stakeholder among participating corporations, however significant national energy companies also won several blocks.

The government forecasts the initial investment at about $82 million, rising to almost $1 billion if drilling moves to the advanced exploration stages.

A special session was organized by Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) with vice chancellors and senior faculty members of several institutions under the National Security and Strategic Leadership Workshop 2026.

Vice chancellors, deans, registrars and senior instructors from around 200 universities of Pakistan attended the event. The event was attended online by participants from Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Muzaffarabad, Multan and Quetta.

During the session, DG ISPR discussed the major topics connected to the country’s internal situation, emphasizing on security matters and strategic challenges.

The participants said the Pakistan Armed Forces had played a remarkable role in defence, stability and security of the country. The also said Pakistan gained a major success in the Battle of Truth thanks to efforts by the armed forces and expressed complete trust in the strength of the country’s military institutions.

They further said that the people of Azad Kashmir and the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) respect the Pakistan Army. Participants reported that they received clear guidance on how to safeguard pupils from harmful propaganda and how to ensure the transmission of truthful information.

Academics said that they were given the heightened knowledge of the national security, information warfare and the difficulties facing the country. They said that the interaction between the armed services and academics is a relevant and important initiative.

Meta Platforms has promised to give competing AI chatbots, including OpenAI, free access to its social messaging service WhatsApp in Europe but would start charging them once they reach a limit.

The previously unknown offer details come as Mark Zuckerberg’s digital and social media company, which also controls Facebook, seeks to placate increasingly severe EU authorities that are squeezing Big digital.

Meta handed its proposal to EU antitrust watchdogs last week after the European Commission indicated it was exploring a demand that the corporation grant rivals access to WhatsApp until it concludes an ongoing probe in the case.

Neither side disclosed details of the offer.

The Commission has not yet decided whether to accept Meta’s offer and interested parties had until May 18 to provide feedback, the persons added.

Once competitor AI chatbots hit a limit in terms of messages sent to users, Meta will start charging them, the two individuals claimed.

The wider case shows how the EU enforcer is seeking to ensure competition in emerging digital sectors by stopping Big Tech from gaining market power or blocking smaller rivals.

The Commission declined to comment, stressing its objective is to keep the developing market of AI assistants free and competitive for entrepreneurs.

It said Meta’s offer should give scope for additional talks to address its concerns.

Meta repeated previous comments that it has provided access to competing AI chatbots in Europe to WhatsApp business Application Programming Interface (API) free of charge for a month while it tries to settle the problem with EU regulators.

An API is a form of software interface that specifies how two software systems will communicate.

Smaller rivals, too, indicated they were unimpressed.

The Interaction Company of California, creator of the AI helper Poke.com, and French startup Agentik, ⁠both of which had complained to the Commission, dismissed Meta’s offer.

“Unfortunately, Meta’s current proposal is no where near addressing any of the competition concerns identified in this case,” The Interaction Company of California said.

“If Meta does not come forward with a truly constructive proposal without delay, we urge the Commission to proceed with the interim measures,” he added.

“Meta’s offer is discriminatory towards its competitors. “Meta’s own AI would be excluded,” says Jeremy Andre, founder of Agentik.

But Meta’s AI chatbot does not use WhatsApp’s API.

Meta had a policy in place in January that allowed only its Meta AI assistant on WhatsApp and then revised it in March to suggest rivals could use the social messaging service for a price.

That led to a second charge sheet from the EU watchdog, causing the company to suspend fees for a month while it examined its proposal with the Commission.