Pakistan has estimated tight gas reserves of 33 trillion cubic feet (tcf) which are more than the existing estimated natural gas reserves of 27 tcf in the country, said the deputy managing director (operations), Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) Syed Hassan Nawab.
He was delivering a presentation on "Natural Gas Industry in Pakistan: Progress and Prospects" at 7th International POGEE Conference 2011 for Oil and Gas and Energy Industry at Karachi Expo Centre Wednesday. Joint Secretary Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources Raashid Bashir Mazari was the chairman of the session. Quoting report of Pakistan Petroleum Exploration and Production Companies Association (PPEPCA), Hassan Nawab said the country would have sufficient natural gas if tight gas is explored with the help of advanced technology. He pointed out that the government has prepared the draft policy for tight gas and it is currently with the Council of Common Interest (CCI) and this will be approved soon.
Quoting some of the incentives in the draft tight gas policy, he said that investors would be offered 40 percent premium on the current gas price for exploring tight gas. Similarly, 50 percent premium will be offered on current gas price to investors if they commission their project by December 2011.
Hassan Nawab said that Pakistan could also produce gas from Thar coal with the help of underground coal gasification (UCG) technology. There is a potential to produce 35 tcf of coalbed methane from Thar coal, he noted. He said that the availability of natural gas could be enhanced through the import-liquefied natural gas (LNG) from neighbouring countries like Qatar and Iran through 3rd party arrangements.
Vice President Al-AzzazEst and country representative, SRI Consulting, Saudi Arabia, Syed Rashid Husain, in his presentation on "Oil Market Today - A Global Perspective" said that the demand for crude oil has decreased due to high prices and it is not likely to be increased in the near future as the large buyers like China and India have trimmed their needs and economic slow down USA and Europe has reduced demands for oil. He said that Saudi Arabia has recently told Opec conference in Vienna, that his country will be comfortable with a price range of $70 to 80 a barrel; other members were aspired for a higher price. However, he said that crude price is likely to be remained within $100 per barrel.
CEO of Dynamic Engineering & Automation, Owais Mir talked about the importance of synthetic natural gas (SNG) as an alternative source of back up energy and said that this technology can provide 10 to 20 percent of the total gas shortage in the country. Danish Ashfaq of LMKR discussed about the preservation of exploration data for oil industry while Ole G Jensen of Wartsila L.L.C., UAE spoke on the importance of controlling losses and improving efficiencies in turbines and engines for oil drilling and pumping stations.-PR