'Tight Gas Petroleum Policy' soon: Naveed

Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Syed Naveed Qamar, on Monday said that the government will soon announce a "Tight Gas Petroleum Policy." Talking to the media after addressing "Fuelling Pakistan Conference" here, he said that the Federal Cabinet has been forwarded all its major components so that it could be approved without any further hitch.
Tight gas is natural gas, which is difficult to access because of the nature of the rock and sand surrounding the deposit. Because this gas is so much more difficult to extract than natural gas from other sources, companies require a large financial incentive to go after it; as energy prices rise, so do not take interest in extracting tight gas.
Several international global oil and gas companies control significant tight gas reserves. Tight gas is also found trapped in coal deposits. "At least 54 licences have been issued by the Ministry for oil and gas exploration to the foreign investors," Syed Naveed Qamar said.
He said that the price of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) has been linked to the prices in the international market and added that some market-players are taking undue advantage of the LPG prices due to liberal government policies. Similarly, the Federal Minister said that petroleum prices are also out of control and destabilised due to the issue of "circular debt."
Syed Naveed Qamar said that the Ministry has adopted an integrated approach to promote exploration and fast track development of oil, gas and other mineral resources. "The Ministry has also reduced imported fuel oil consumption with increase in indigenous gas by balancing gas availability and supplies from local resources," he said.
The Minister said that his Ministry created policies which are investor-friendly and will provide them competitive environment adding that geological research all across Pakistan is being conducted with due care. He praised the efforts of the organisers to popularising the products related to CNG and added that these products will make a base for the industry in near future. Later, the Minister also visited various stalls where foreign companies exhibited their CNG related products.