Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Mir Muhammad Naseer Mengal has urged the geo-scientists and petroleum engineers to make dedicated efforts to help the government officials and people understanding the phenomenon of earthquake aimed at mitigating the future risks in terms of planning and formulating building laws.
He expressed these views while addressing a two-day annual 'Technical Conference of Petroleum Engineers and Geo-Scientists' organised by Pakistan Association of Petroleum Geologist (PAPG) and Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) here on Monday.
Over 900 members of the PAPG and SPE, representatives of oil and gas, local and foreign companies, heads and students of the geological department of the universities are attending the conference.
Mengal said the October 8 earthquake tragedy was for the entire mankind and thanked the oil industry for their generous support for the rescue and rehabilitation of the affected people.
He said that petroleum industry had been playing a key role for boosting national economy and the government was making all-out efforts to tap the unexplored hydrocarbon resources in the country in order to bridge the energy supply demand gap.
The minister went on to say that during the last five years unprecedented regulatory and institutional reforms had been introduced to revamp the industry with a view to paving way for creation of competitive market environment.
In order to achieve the goal of self-sufficiency, advance technologies should be employed to give better control on interpretation and calculation.
The government was committed to provide transparent, competitive, safe and secure environment that guarantees protection of business interests of the investors, he added.
He lauded the PAPG and SPE for organising and choosing the theme of the conference 'Meeting tomorrow Challenges today' and termed it most appropriate in the light of rising oil prices currently over $60 per barrel that may further go up as high as $80 by mid next year as predicted by analysis.
In his welcome address, General Manager OMW Company of Austria and Chairman of PAPG, Dr George Wachtel said year 2005 had been a successful one for the oil and gas industry in Pakistan.
A number of new areas had been taken-up for exploration and existing plant capacities had been increased beside expansion in various stages of implementation.
Wachtel underlined the need to improve local sources of energy, as the country was in need to meet its growing demanded.
Chairman Annual Technical Conference, Masood Abdali said that PAPG and SPE would make collective efforts for raising funds for the revival and reconstruction of the geological department of the AJK University.
Country Manager, Hungry Petroleum Company and General Secretary of ATC, Javed Sarwar in his address highlighted the importance of the conference and hoped that it would go a long way for the delegates to learn from each other's experience.
The meeting expressed grief over the heavy loss of lives and material destruction in October 8 earthquake in Pakistan and prayed for the eternal rest of the departed souls.