Energy resources: investment being made with a view to joining top 25 economies: Khaqan

The government is substantially investing in conventional and unconventional energy resources to put Pakistan among the top 25 economies of the world in next 10 years. While addressing "International Conference on Unconventional Resources (ICOUR-I) on Tuesday, Federal Minister for Petroleum Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal emphasised upon the need for accelerating efforts to explore conventional and unconventional resources with an aim to meet energy needs of the country.
The conference was organised by NED University of Engineering, Technology, and Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU, under the Framework Institutional Cooperation Program of the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms in collaboration with Petroleum Institute of Pakistan.
During the conference, various energy experts recommended the government to tune Shale Gas Policy Framework to provide conducive terms and conditions addressing environmental aspects and improved fiscal incentives to promote investment in the unconventional energy sector. The main objective of the conference was to secure country's future energy demand through advanced technology, development strategies and economic exploitation of Shale and Tight Gas Resources. About 16 technical papers, 3 key notes and panel discussions will constitute the highlights of the conference deliberations in this two (02) days international conference.
Participants of the conference recommended development of Shale and Tight Oil and Gas resources in Pakistan. Collaborative pilot projects to determine the quantity and development strategies by Pakistani State owned companies, OGDCL/PPL and the Norwegian State Oil Company, State Oil, was also recommended. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) have been assigned the task to launch a pilot project to drill Shale gas/oil wells.
Pakistan had great energy resources and there was the need for consistent efforts to exploit them. He also emphasised upon the need for accelerating efforts to explore conventional and unconventional resources aimed at meeting energy needs of the country.
Abbasi said that Pakistan was facing a huge gap between demand and supply of energy, saying that currently its total gas production was 4 Billion Cubic Feet Per Day (BCF/D) against the demand of 8 (BCF/D) of gas adding the oil requirement was seven to eight times higher than the local production.
Highlighting the efforts of the government in increasing oil and gas exploration activities, the Minister said a recent study identified massive resources of Shale gas and oil in the country. As per the study, he said there were 188 TCF of gas and 58 BSTB of oil technically recoverable resources while the risked technically recoverable resources stood at 95 Trillion Cubic Feet (TCF) gas and 14 Billions of Stock Tank Barrels (BSTB) oil as per the study.
Speaking on the occasion, Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said that the government has set a goal to make Pakistan one of the top 25 global economies of the world. He said that to achieve this target uninterrupted energy supply was must to all the segments of the economy and therefore the government was massively investing in energy sector.
The Minister said that Pakistan is progressive, peaceful and eager to contribute to the world peace. Ahsan Iqbal said that when in 2013, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz came into power the economy sector was facing severe load-shedding "Our first priority was to address the power crisis and within three years we resolved almost half of the problem", he added. Ahsan said that the PML-N government was right on the target to add another 10,000 megawatts of electricity to the national grid by 2018.
The Minister also discussed the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and said that after the completion of various projects under the plan, Pakistan will become an economic hub of Asia.
Asim Murtaza CEO Petroleum Institute of Pakistan (PIP) said that collaborative pilot projects should be undertaken by Pakistani State owned companies, OGDCL/PPL and the Norwegian State Oil Company, Stat oil, possibly on government to government basis, to determine realistic numbers and appraisal and development strategies. NED - NTNU collaboration through the Norwegian Center of Excellence should extend beyond academic studies and function as an R&D "Incubator" for pilot projects. The industry feels a strong need to improve the fiscal terms for the Tight Gas Policy 2011 to encourage exploration& production of this vast resource.