1 billion tons good quality coal deposits found in Badin (Sindh)

[dawn_news]

ISLAMABAD: The Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP) revealed on Thursday discovery of good quality coal in Badin district of Sindh.

GSP Director General Dr Imran Khan informed the National Assembly’s standing committee on petroleum and natural resources that the new coal deposits were estimated to be over one billion tonnes. The Badin coal is of very good quality and high heating value.

He said there were substantial deposits of gold and copper and more than 200 million tonnes of iron ore but these could not be exploited or utilised because of lack of infrastructure and technology.

He said the exploratory rigs being used by the GSP for survey of natural deposits had been purchased in the 1950s and since then no addition was made.

Toxic waste

Dr Imran told the committee that toxic waste being released by leather factories was contributing to spread of cancer.

The committee expressed concern over the toxic waste and effluent being drained into rivers and streams by oil and gas exploration and production companies. It asked the petroleum ministry to convey its concern to the ministries of health and law for regulating the disposal of the toxic waste resulting in serious diseases. The GSP was asked to submit a detailed report on the issue.

Chaudhry Bilal Ahmed Virk, who presided over the meeting, said the committee would like to know what steps had been taken by the institutions concerned because it was a very serious health issue and could not allowed to go on. It also wanted to know what action had been taken against the people involved in such irresponsible acts, he added.

During a presentation on Saindak, Reko Diq and other mineral projects, the committee expressed displeasure when it was told that an amount of Rs667 million allocated for procurement of latest technology had not been disbursed so far.

It directed the petroleum ministry to approach the Planning Commission and the finance ministry for the release of Rs667m allocated in the Public Sector Development Programme for the GSP to enable it to complete the already delayed projects.

The committee was told that the GSP had carried out geological mapping and other geo-scientific surveys, basic and applied research in earth sciences, scientific investigations for an accurate understanding of the country’s geological resources and their prudent management and environmental geology and hydro-geological studies.

The committee was also given an ‘off-the-record’ briefing on the Reko Diq copper and gold project. It decided to get another in-camera briefing keeping in view the sensitivity of the matter because of international arbitration.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2014

Good quality coal deposits found in Badin - Newspaper - DAWN.COM

Since they mention ''good quality'', it must be better then Thar coal.

 

[Chak Bamu]

Congratulations, but we should not be hostage to our history in development of energy resources thus far.

 

[Secur]

Since they mention ''good quality'', it must be better then Thar coal.

How about providing some data to the general public too ?

 

[niaz]

"Good quality" is a very relative term. A billion ton reserve find of bituminous variety with moisture content of less than 20% and heating value in the 6,000 kcal/kg range is truly a cause for celebration.

Can anyone get some inside info on it?

 

[Bilal.]

"Good quality" is a very relative term. A billion ton reserve find of bituminous variety with moisture content of less than 20% and heating value in the 6,000 kcal/kg range is truly a cause for celebration.

Can anyone get some inside info on it?

Sir how significant is the size, what capacity mine mouth power plant it can support and for how many years? Assuming the quality is as explained in your post. Additionally, doesn't Punjab also hold half a billion ton bituminous reserve?

 

[farhan_9909]

Sir how significant is the size, what capacity mine mouth power plant it can support and for how many years?

Pakistan Coal Consumption is less than a million while the reserve's of 1billion tons of high quality reserve's are enough for decades.

PAkistan and india both holds More than 100Billion tons of Coal reserve but of low quality and for this reason india import coal from indonesia for its powerplants,which improve the overall life of the powerplants since the coal from Indonesia is of high quality.

if this indeed is comparable to the quality of coal of indonesia than even 1Billion ton reserve are big enough for the local demand

 

[Bilal.]

@farhan_9909 I was not referring to current local demand. What I meant was that if say a 1320 MW(660MW X 2) power plant is established on mine mouth of this reserve, how long can this reserve sustain it. Or indeed, can this reserve sustain bigger 4000-5000 MW installation for a reasonable number of years?

 

[Hyde]

Not sure about how good this "good quality" coal is but if it is good enough to replace the projected imported coal for existing coal-fired power plants and the plants we are planning to build in Gaddani and Sindh. It is news of the day

 

[dawn_news]

Pakistan Coal Consumption is less than a million while the reserve's of 1billion tons of high quality reserve's are enough for decades.

PAkistan and india both holds More than 100Billion tons of Coal reserve but of low quality and for this reason india import coal from indonesia for its powerplants,which improve the overall life of the powerplants since the coal from Indonesia is of high quality.

if this indeed is comparable to the quality of coal of indonesia than even 1Billion ton reserve are big enough for the local demand

Chinese projects for next few years, investment of $800 million for 3.5 million tons/year Thar coal is also included. And i read some where that another project of 6.5 m tons a year is also in pipeline.

"Good quality" is a very relative term. A billion ton reserve find of bituminous variety with moisture content of less than 20% and heating value in the 6,000 kcal/kg range is truly a cause for celebration.

Can anyone get some inside info on it?

This is official website of GSP, maybe once its updated in coming months we will get better idea.

Geological Survey of Pakistan

 

[niaz]

Sir how significant is the size, what capacity mine mouth power plant it can support and for how many years? Assuming the quality is as explained in your post. Additionally, doesn't Punjab also hold half a billion ton bituminous reserve?

How much coal will be required per MW of power depends upon heating value of coal & plant efficiency. Most pulverised coal power plants work between 35 -37% efficiency; that is percentage of the total heat content of coal converted into electricity.

Steam/Thermal grade heating value is normally between 6,500 kcal/kg (Indonesian steam coal grade -1) to about 5,800 Kcal/kg (Indonesian steam coal grade-2)

Assuming 35% plant efficiency and coal with about 6,000 kcal/kg or 25 MJ/kg heat value; one would need about 5,000 tons per day coal based on 24 hour operation of a 500MW pulverised coal fired plant. This translates into about 1.8-million tons per annum or roughly 3.600 tons per year per MW power. .

To have an idea of the size of reserves; world total coal deposits are estimated to be about 900-billion tons with Indonesian reserves about 6-billion tons. Therefore 1-billion tons of good quality coal is a very significant find. I would however not pass judgement until concrete detailed info about Badin find is available.

Kindly note that coal consumption figures are approximate only. I would welcome experts to contradict or correct the estimates.

 

[dawn_news]

@farhan_9909 I was not referring to current local demand. What I meant was that if say a 1320 MW(660MW X 2) power plant is established on mine mouth of this reserve, how long can this reserve sustain it. Or indeed, can this reserve sustain bigger 4000-5000 MW installation for a reasonable number of years?

If Niaz figures are correct then 1 billion tons good quality coal can generate 5000mw for 50-60 years.

 

[niaz]

If Niaz figures are correct then 1 billion tons good quality coal can generate 5000mw for 50-60 years.

Power plants do not operate 24 hours each day 365 days a year at 100% capacity. There are occasional shut downs and normal plant would operate at nominal capacity during the low demand night hours. Therefore 1-billion recoverable reserves should last much longer. That is, if the reserves estimate is accurate.

 

[Donatello]

How much coal will be required per MW of power depends upon heating value of coal & plant efficiency. Most pulverised coal power plants work between 35 -37% efficiency; that is percentage of the total heat content of coal converted into electricity.

Steam/Thermal grade heating value is normally between 6,500 kcal/kg (Indonesian steam coal grade -1) to about 5,800 Kcal/kg (Indonesian steam coal grade-2)

Assuming 35% plant efficiency and coal with about 6,000 kcal/kg or 25 MJ/kg heat value; one would need about 5,000 tons per day coal based on 24 hour operation of a 500MW pulverised coal fired plant. This translates into about 1.8-million tons per annum or roughly 3.600 tons per year per MW power. .

To have an idea of the size of reserves; world total coal deposits are estimated to be about 900-billion tons with Indonesian reserves about 6-billion tons. Therefore 1-billion tons of good quality coal is a very significant find. I would however not pass judgement until concrete detailed info about Badin find is available.

Kindly note that coal consumption figures are approximate only. I would welcome experts to contradict or correct the estimates.

Those are pretty reasonable estimates. Even if this coal is of low calorific value, we can still use it, Efficiency would be low, but hey at least we have some source of fuel to burn and generate power which is needed by the nation.


What's your general perception of Sindh and South Punjab regions with regard to fossil fuels? It seems the geological formation over there has large amount of untapped coal and gas reserves.

 

[niaz]

I joined Esso Eastern in 1967, barely 10 years after the discovery of Mari gas field. There was a large map of West Pakistan hung in the Geologist looking after Mari gas field. I distinticly remember that West Pakistan was divided into 3 sedimentary basins.

Upper Indus basin: Located in the northern Pakistan ending at Sargodha. The basin is further subdivided by river Indus in to Potohar to the east and Kohat to the west.

Lower Indus Basin is very large and subdivided as:

Central Indus Basin: This consists of South Punjab, & Suleiman range area.

Southern Indus Basin: Comprises of Thar, Karachi area, Kirthar belt & Offshore Indus.

The central and southern Indus basins are separated by Jacobabad, Mari, and Khandkot called the Sukkur Rift.

Baluchistan Basin: Onshore & offshore areas of Baluchistan coastal region.

Sedimentary basins are the places where generally hydrocarbon deposits are found. At that time it was estimated that Pakistan was sitting on 50-billion barrels of oil. More than 55 years later, we are still awaiting the good news.

In direct answer to Hon Donatello's question; there are definitely oil, gas & coal deposits in our beloved country. Only question is how much?

It doubtful that major oil & gas bearing structures such as oil reservoirs of 2--billion barrels or more or deposits with 10-TCF of gas still remain undiscovered. But there could be many oil fields of about 100 to 200 million barrels of oil & gas reservoirs of 2 -3 Tcf waiting to be discovered.

Not too much attention was given to coal deposits in the past and there could still be large coal fields with 250-million tons or more of coal out there.

The above is my personal opinion and should not be taken as authoritative word on Pakistan's hydrocarbon resources.

 

[scorpionx]

Dong Feng has made a number of thermal power plants in India. In West Bengal, a 300MW plant needs 148 Tons/Hour design coal. It makes the coal rate around 0.5 Tons/Mw. The GCV of design coal (grade E) is around 4100 Kcal and they don't allow the plants to be operated by coal below 3500Kcal GCV.
But Indian coals don't carry much useful calorific value and government run plants are not ready to purchase high grade Australian/Indonesian coals to reduce the generation cost. That's why state run plants are buying G grade coals whose heat value is around 2000 kcal.On average, to maintain a generation about 4800 Mwhr approximately 3500 tons per day of G grade coal is required.So if the coal found here is of even F grade I think this is a great news for Pakistan.