The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has sought federal government's support for approval of guidelines meant to control seepage of oil and gas waste across Pakistan, sources in Petroleum Division told Business Recorder. Hydrocarbon seepage is a phenomenon where either liquid and/or gaseous hydrocarbons escape to the surface of the earth or seep into the water table or agri-roots.
The Petroleum Exploration & Production Policy 2012 is silent with regard to handling/sale of hydrocarbons seepages. On reports of hydrocarbon seepage, its proposed economic utilization, the removal of difficulties and addressing of anomalies committee, constituted under policy 2012, discussed the matter in its meeting held on October 3, 2016 and adopted guidelines for hydrocarbon seepages.
The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) submitted a summary to the highest decision making body saying that it is essential to arrest waste of oil and gas into ravines and atmosphere. Also foreign exchange will be saved by using indigenous oil and gas. The Petroleum Division has submitted the following proposals: (i) in case of notification of petroleum seepage by any provincial government in an area falling in the existing Exploration Licence, the licence holder will be given a notice of one month by Director General Petroleum Concession (DGPC) to come up with a plan to safely dispose off the petroleum seepage.
In case, the licence holders express no interest in disposing off the waste, the concerned provincial government will be allowed by the federal government to dispose off the naturally seeped petroleum as deemed appropriate; and (ii) in case of notification of petroleum seepage by any provincial government in a free area the concerned provincial government will be allowed by the federal government to dispose off the naturally seeped petroleum within one month after filing an application by the PHC.
According to the proposed policy, known seepages in open acreage will be reported by the concerned Provincial Governments to DGPC and respective provincial Environment Protection Agencies (EPA's) along with developed plan indicating location, area, environmental concerns associated with that particular seepage with mitigation measures, volume and mechanism for its collection, extraction, containment and disposal, as well as timelines within three months from the notification of the guidelines.
The DGPC will give rights to the provincial governments for an initial period of up to three years for collection, extraction, containment and disposal of the reported hydrocarbons from the seepages. The initial period will be extended by the DGPC on the basis of more relevant data obtained during the period. The government of Balochistan and Sindh have fully supported the summary of Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) while Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division) did not support the proposal.