Dera Bugti district: home of Sui gas

Introduction and location

Dera Bugti is a district at the southern foot of the Koh-e-Suleman range in eastern Balochistan. Its borders reach close to Sindh and Punjab. The gas that comes out of Sui, in this district, made the name “Sui gas” familiar across the country.

According to the 2023 census of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the district covers 10,160 square kilometres and has a population of 355,274: 194,587 men, 160,683 women and 4 transgender persons. There are about 121 men for every 100 women, well above the provincial average of 109. Population density is about 35 persons per square kilometre, the urban population is 30.52 per cent and the average household has 5.7 members. The population was 313,110 in 2017, an annual growth rate of 2.13 per cent.

The census table lists eight parts of the district. The largest is Sui sub-division (3,858 square kilometres, population 126,725). The others are: Dera Bugti sub-division (50,943), Pir Koh (44,396), Baikar (33,410), Malam (33,340), Qadirabad sub-division (32,226), Loti (21,711) and Sangsila (12,523). Of the two urban areas, Sui (79,567) is about three times the size of the district headquarters, Dera Bugti (28,880).

According to a report in The News in September 2025, the Phelawagh tehsil was renamed Qadirabad through a Revenue Department notification. According to reports in 2026, the district was divided and a new district of Upper (North) Dera Bugti was created, and in the July 2026 restructuring the remaining district was placed in Sibi division. The text of these notifications is not before us, so this page follows the 2023 boundaries.

History

According to the 1907 Sibi Gazetteer, the Bugti tribe numbered 15,159 in 1901 and was divided into seven branches: Rahija, Masori, Kalpar, Mondrani, Shambani, Durrag Nothani and Perozani.

People and languages

According to the census, 98.9 per cent of residents (351,499) have Balochi as their mother tongue. There are 2,281 Saraiki speakers. The religion table records 353,431 Muslims, 1,095 Hindus and 688 Christians. According to the provincial report, because of the Sui gas field, the district has the highest share of settlers from other provinces in the whole of Balochistan, at 77.21 per cent.

The state of education is very weak. The literacy rate among the population aged over ten is 24.07 per cent: 34.40 per cent among men and only 11.88 per cent among women. Among rural women it is 7.28 per cent. According to the provincial report, Dera Bugti’s gender parity index in education (34.53 per cent) is the lowest in the province. The district is among those where more than 70 per cent of children are out of school and only 20 to 40 per cent of homes have electricity.

Economy

In 1907 the economy depended on livestock rearing and rain-fed farming. According to the Gazetteer, the springs of Dera Bugti and Sangsila together irrigated about 150 acres. The main crops were wheat and, in the kharif season, jowar. The Perozanis and Shambanis were considered the best camel breeders.

Today the district is known for gas. According to The Nation, gas was discovered at Sui in 1952 (the Bureau of Statistics report gives 1953), and Dera Bugti has been the country’s largest gas-producing district. In July 2021 the managing director of Pakistan Petroleum Limited told a Senate committee that Sui’s output of one billion cubic feet a day in 1996 had fallen to 340 million cubic feet. In May 2016 the provincial cabinet approved leasing the field to PPL for ten years. Under the deal the province was to receive Rs74 billion over ten years (previously it received Rs7.5 billion a year in royalty), and free gas supply to Sui town was to continue. In January 2026 Mari Energies announced a new gas discovery from the Tabri-1 well in the district’s Kalchas South block. In the initial test the flow was up to 11 million cubic feet a day.

Places of interest

Dera Bugti: According to the Gazetteer, it was also called “Dera Bibrak” after its founder. It stands on the bank of the Siah Af stream at an elevation of 1,478 feet and was surrounded by a square mud wall. According to the Gazetteer, fossils of reptiles and mammals were found near the town, including species of the rhinoceros and pig families that were unknown at that time.

Shrine of Pir Sori: According to the Gazetteer, it is on the Pir Koh mountain.

Uch: A small oasis at the foot of the Zain hills, where, according to the Gazetteer, water bubbles up from springs.