'Need for effective energy policy stressed to exploit potential'

An effective policy is needed to exploit the oil, gas, coal and hydel potential to meet the power requirements of the country to avoid further aggravation of the situation in near future.
According to an official in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, the crude oil reserves in Pakistan are estimated at 27 billion barrels, including 300 million barrels proven reserves. The production is presently 22.6 million barrels compared with consumption of 100 million barrels.
The official said that natural gas reserves are estimated at 8 trillion cubic metres, including proven reserves of 0.8 trillion cubic metres. The production is presently 93 million cubic metres per day as compared with the consumption of 82 million cubic metres.
Similarly, coal reserves in the country are estimated at 185 billion tonnes, including proven reserves of 3.3 billion tonnes. The excavation of coal stands at just 3.3 million tonnes per annum against consumption of 6.1 million tonnes per annum. Likewise, the hydel potential in the country is 46,000 mw, while the present installed capacity of hydel power is only 6,459 mw.
Out of total power generation of 83,755 GWH, hydel generation is around 29,853 GWH. Three main rivers, Jehlum, Chenab, and Indus travel across the country to reach the Indian Ocean and provide numerous potentials for hydel energy.
Neelam River and its tributaries in Azad Kashmir offer huge potential for small-scale hydro projects, the official said. Experts in the energy sector believe that there is dire need of energy professionals in the field to utilise the available natural resources identified by the Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP) and other international survey companies.
They said that the government should launch an exclusive programme in educational institutions for bringing up skilled people in this field. They said that although the government had signed several agreements with national and international companies, those projects need a long time to materialise. Therefore, the government should start short-term programmes so as to provide people relief, particularly the industries to keep running the wheel of economic growth.