Ministry works out exploration plan: massive shale gas, oil reserves exist: US EIA

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources has initiated work on a plan to explore shale gas/oil in the country which, according to US Energy Information Administration (EIA), stands at 586 Trillion Cubic Feet (TCF) and over 9 billion barrels of shale oil in Pakistan.
According to an official, the American federal authority on energy statistics and analysis has estimated fresh recoverable shale gas reserves of 105 TCF and over 9 billion barrels of oil in Pakistan. They said the petroleum ministry high-ups have directed the Director General Petroleum Concessions to work out a viable plan so that the country could explore huge natural reservoirs.
These estimates of recoverable hydrocarbon reserves are many a time higher than so far proven reserves of 24 TCF for gas and about 300 million barrels for oil. Pakistan currently produces about 4.25 Billion Cubic Feet per Day (BCFD) of gas and about 70,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
The official said the new estimates appeared to be very encouraging for Pakistan but extraction of shale gas/oil is four times costlier and technology extensive as compared with conventional natural resources. He said the shale gas had seen tremendous developments in the US and a couple of other countries were trying to use the latest technology. Pakistan, he said, was also encouraging exploration and production companies to venture into shale gas.
Pakistan is particularly heavily dependent on natural gas for its energy needs. At present actual demand for gas is around 8 BCFD, while managed demand is hovering around 6 BCFD against total supply of 4.3 BCF. Shale gas/oil reservoirs estimates of Pakistan are backed by proven studies and verified technical data. "The risked, technically recoverable shale gas resource is estimated at 201 TCF, with 96 TCF in India and 105 TCF in Pakistan," the EIA said.
The EIA also estimated risked shale oil in place for India/Pakistan of 314 billion barrels, with 87 billion barrels in India and 227 billion barrels in Pakistan. "The risked, technically recoverable shale oil resource is estimated at 12.9 billion barrels for those two countries, with 3.8 billion barrels for India and 9.1 billion barrels for Pakistan," the EIA said. The EIA said that while oil and gas have been recorded in the Sembar Shale on the Thar Platform, no productive oil/gas wells have yet been drilled in Sembar Shale.
About the resource assessment, the EIA said within 31,320 sq miles of dry gas prospective area, the Sembar Shale in the lower Indus basin had a resource concentration of 83 billion cubic feet per square mile. Within the 25,560 square mile wet gas and condensate prospective are, the Sembar Shale has resource concentration of 57 BCF per sq. miles of wet gas and nine million barrels per square mile of condensate. Within the 26,700 square miles oil prospective area, the Sembar Shale has a resource concentration of 37 million barrels per square mile.
According to officials Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) in collaboration with Italian E&P Company ENI is set to start for the first time drilling of exploratory well in Sindh's deep sea in 2014. Around seven exploratory wells, eight appraisal wells and 19 development wells have been planned for discovering shale and tight gas in the next five years.