Impressive efforts on to meet energy needs

[The Unmistakable]

ISLAMABAD - Appreciating the country’s growing energy needs in view of dwindling oil and gas reserves, the government has put up an impressive effort, adopting a multi-pronged approach to keep pace for tackling such challenges.
The government succeeded to register a rising trend in exploration work during the current financial year, spudding 73 wells and making 18 discoveries, which reflects clear indication of fast moving progress. As matching efforts, a clear roadmap-to explore indigenous hydrocarbon resources and to augment energy chain through imported supplies was worked out and pursued accordingly, which yielded results over the year.
A pains-taking phase to evolve consensus among the provinces was tactfully handled and the government successfully awarded 50 petroleum exploration blocks to eight companies including local and foreign companies to exploit domestic resources through exploring hidden wealth of hydrocarbon resources.
Out of 50 blocks, 21 are located in Balochistan, 15 in Punjab, eight in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and six in Sindh and these blocks were offloaded at right time since it adds, the country had exhausted more than half of the original domestic recoverable oil reserves.Similarly, the worrisome factor is that gas reserves aredepleting and if gas consumption grows annually even at moderaterates and the present recoverable reserves will largely be exhausted by 2025.
The source reveals original recoverable reserves on June30, 2013 were1,102.6 million barrels with 731.5 million barrels (68 per cent) cumulative production of oil and 371 million barrels (32 per cent) balance recoverable reserves.
The government also successfully utilized the available developed oil source, posting the local crude extraction a growth of 12 per cent as it stood at 23 million barrels in July-March 2014 compared to 20.5 million barrels in corresponding period last year. Given the fact that LPG, which production had recorded at 1000 tons per day, is fast becoming a choice in the areas where natural gas distribution network is not available, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) issued two licenses for construction of LPG storage and filling plants during July-December 2013.
In addition, the authority has also issued 15 licenses for construction ofLPG auto refueling stations in the country and during the same period the LPG infrastructure development witnessed Rs 0.264 billion where as the total investment in the sector till end of this fiscal year is estimated about Rs 17.464 billion.Similarly, the natural gas and LPG are considered as cheaper than oil, but both are expensive than coal and fortunately Pakistan has huge coal resources estimated to exceed 185 billion tons which generally ranks from lignite to sub-bituminous. To supplement energy availability thorough imports, the government succeeded to have first shipment of 200 mmcfd of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) soon.
According to official source, the current gas production meets only 50 per cent of the national requirements, thus efforts were being made to import LNG to bridge the gap.The government had succeeded to award contract for building a terminal at Port Qasim and preparations were underway to start construction work on the terminal to start import of import 200 mmcfd, which would be enhanced to 400 mmcfd at later stages.
The process had been started to acquire 350,000 tons of LNG at international market, which would be a long way in reinforcing the current energy supplies in the country.
Similarly during the one year, the government provided over Rs 20 billion in subsidy on the petroleum price increases to ward off masses from its inflationary pressure.The government kept prices of petroleum products either unchanged or decreased in nearly eight months during last year.

 

[Dubious]

If we have soo much resources, why do we have loadshedding and gas loadshedding? Even in Isb ....

Worse thing is why isnt NS like in his speech about "kandha mala ker khara hona" experiencing this loadsheddings in his mahal?

 

[VCheng]

Appreciating the country’s growing energy needs in view of dwindling oil and gas reserves, the government has put up an impressive effort, adopting a multi-pronged approach to keep pace for tackling such challenges.
The government succeeded to register a rising trend in exploration work during the current financial year, spudding 73 wells and making 18 discoveries, which reflects clear indication of fast moving progress.

Fast moving progress? Impressive effort? Rising trend? All BS claims.

Where are the results? Loadshedding continues to make life miserable and reduce productivity. Circular debt continues to strangle the power sector. Reducing subsidies will only make matters worse for the poorer sections of society by pricing energy out of reach for them.

 

[Dubious]

Fast moving progress? Impressive effort? Rising trend? All BS claims.

Where are the results? Loadshedding continues to make life miserable and reduce productivity. Circular debt continues to strangle the power sector. Reducing subsidies will only make matters worse for the poorer sections of society by pricing energy out of reach for them.

I second that if there was a change in the system then the word impressive should be used for now its is efforts shown ...

 

[VCheng]

I second that if there was a change in the system then the word impressive should be used for now its is efforts shown ...

These are not efforts. These are just political statements without anything meaningful attached to them.

 

[Dubious]

These are not efforts. These are just political statements without anything meaningful attached to them.

Well I give everyone the benefit of the doubt be it a reporter or the politician...but yea...

 

[AUz]

If PML(N) government takes Pakistan out of energy crises completely in next 5 years..and puts it on the path to produce surplus energy by 2020...with increasing demand taken into account...then there is no stopping them for ruling Pakistan for next 10 years.

 

[GreenFalcon]

Impressive load shedding, yesterday we had no electricity for almost 22 hours in the Rawalpindi district and today isn't any better

 

[Cheetah786]

If PML(N) government takes Pakistan out of energy crises completely in next 5 years..and puts it on the path to produce surplus energy by 2020...with increasing demand taken into account...then there is no stopping them for ruling Pakistan for next 10 years.

Boy do i have deal for you i am selling "Taj Mahal" for a good price I bet you can make millions/ month.

 

[Tashfeen Abdul Qayyum]

Is electricity the only issue faced by us? We have multiple issues and all need to be tackled if these nincompoops want to stay in power. They came into power based on lies and with the support of the Judiciary and the media specially GEO. They had not done their home work and started to make plans or whatever once in Gov't. They have wasted more than a year and we are still in the talking phase. I have very low hopes from these very tried, tested and failed team memebers of MNS. Th eleast he could have done was to bring in a new team but he did not. Stale, minds, prejudiced will not come up with new ideas and new initiatives. They are following the same old policies and in the end who suffers? The people.
Water, electricity, gas, education, security, economy in general, investments, good governance, exports are just a few of the difficulties that we are facing and all these need to be sorted out.

 

[VCheng]

If PML(N) government takes Pakistan out of energy crises completely in next 5 years..and puts it on the path to produce surplus energy by 2020...with increasing demand taken into account...then there is no stopping them for ruling Pakistan for next 10 years.

If that happens. IF. The data indicate that it can not and will not be able to achieve that.

 

[AsifIjaz]

The government has indeed taken the initiatives to set up new power plants (Gadani, Kannup 1 & 2, Coal power plants in Punjab, Thar coal by SEC and the BWP solar projects) and the fact that in 2/3 years about 250 watts plus will also be coming from wind along with neelum jehlum, Tarbela extension, Nandipur etc. The problem after 3 years will not be whether energy efficient capacity is there or not.. the problem will be whether we can decrease the gap in the cost of production and the cost being paid by the end user.
The drive to nab the non payers need to move to the next gear now and abid sher ali is simply not the right person for it. The most important thing to do is to re-negotiate with the management of independent power plants (Hubco, Liberty, Japan, kohenoor, Nishat etc) being run on furnance/diesel and convince them to switch to coal, if this involves giving them an incentive of half to 1 cent per unit extra even then it would be worth it. The ideal scenario would be switch to local coal which (compared to international coal) would require extra quantity to produce the power as per the installed capacity but if that is not feasible then offer a 70/30 or 60/40 or a 50/50 mix of the coal from 2 sources... we have been hearing rumors news on this front as well but nothing has happened in black and white... its high time this is given a priority as even if the government is able to renegotiate the contracts with the IPPs lets say in 2014 then it would take them 2 to 3 years to switch to the newer source material and hopefully by end 2016/17 we would be significantly decreasing our cost of production along with the unaccountable power.

 

[niaz]

I have special interest in following up on Pakistan’s energy scenario. Most people including the journalists are incapable of visualizing large amounts. Whereas in the energy industry, millions of barrel (1bbl = 159 litres), billion or trillion cubic feet of gas is common place. Hence one some journalist mentions that 1-biilion barrels of oil were discovered and we still have 370-million barrels left; it sounds a lot.

We must remember that size is only relative. Per 2011 estimate, Pakistan consumes about 400K barrels per day or about 12-millions bbl per month of hydrocarbons in oil equivalent. On this basis 370 –million barrels of crude deposits are barely sufficient for about 2 ½ years. What happens after?

Additionally, ignorant journalists and wily politicians give the impression that that Pakistan is Saudi Arabia of oil, Qatar of gas and like Australia or South African in coal. Main reason for the load shedding and shortage is incompetence & corruption and lack of good governance.

Ground realities are that oil exploration costs money. Even after oil & gas deposits are found, development costs even more money. Then there is the serious Law& Order problem.

Oil & Gas exploration is seriously hampered because Oil workers kidnapped and even killed in Baluchistan. Supply from existing field is disrupted because pipelines are blown up every day by the BLA. LNG project would have on stream couple of years ago but the losing party went to court put a stop to it.

Except for the initial success at Sui in 1952 where a 12 TCF reservoir was found (approx. 2.1 -billion bbl. oil equivalent) no major oil or gas reserves have been found. Next largest reservoir Mari gas field ( about 7-TCF recoverable reserves followed by Qadirpur at 4.2 TCF. All the rest small reservoirs and only became commercially viable when oil prices crossed $50 per bbl. We already know that total crude discoveries amounted to just over 1-billion barrels after 60 years of exploration.

Without doubt civilian governments have been inept; PPP in particular never learn how to spell ‘Governance’, naturally it does not exist any time PPP is in power. Corruption is rife, honesty, hard work and merit is considered a disqualification.

However, ordinary Pakistani people are equally to blame. Pakistan is the only country where everyone one, including gov’t department expect to use energy but not pay for it? As if realization that you can’t have anything for nothing short of ‘Rocket science’. Even the Prime Minister House, Pakistan railways, water board etc. owe billion of rupees. Some areas in KPK attack the teams sent to disconnect electricity supply due non payment of bills with firearms. There is a widespread theft of electricity, oil & gas. All these factors put together towards the perpetual load shedding and gas shortage problems and a major reason for rise in electricity bills of the paying customers.

However, lack of energy resources is not the root cause of the problems. Countries such as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan became industrial tigers without large scale energy resources. In my humble opinion, root cause of Pakistan’s problem is the paucity of the ‘Human Resource’.

Ignorant public elects incompetent leaders. Hundreds of MNA’s & MP’s were proven guilty of supplying fake educational degrees to the election commission. Doesn’t it show lack of personal integrity? However Jamshed Dasti, who was disqualified by the Court of Law for submitting a fake degree, was re-elected!

If you want to get ahead in the modern world, you need education, education and education. By this I don’t mean thru cheating or fake degrees. Educated people would not be duped by quoting large numbers. Also education will make people elect better leaders who would provide better governance.

 

[Shabaz Sharif]

I have special interest in following up on Pakistan’s energy scenario. Most people including the journalists are incapable of visualizing large amounts. Whereas in the energy industry, millions of barrel (1bbl = 159 litres), billion or trillion cubic feet of gas is common place. Hence one some journalist mentions that 1-biilion barrels of oil were discovered and we still have 370-million barrels left; it sounds a lot.

We must remember that size is only relative. Per 2011 estimate, Pakistan consumes about 400K barrels per day or about 12-millions bbl per month of hydrocarbons in oil equivalent. On this basis 370 –million barrels of crude deposits are barely sufficient for about 2 ½ years. What happens after?

Additionally, ignorant journalists and wily politicians give the impression that that Pakistan is Saudi Arabia of oil, Qatar of gas and like Australia or South African in coal. Main reason for the load shedding and shortage is incompetence & corruption and lack of good governance.

Ground realities are that oil exploration costs money. Even after oil & gas deposits are found, development costs even more money. Then there is the serious Law& Order problem.

Oil & Gas exploration is seriously hampered because Oil workers kidnapped and even killed in Baluchistan. Supply from existing field is disrupted because pipelines are blown up every day by the BLA. LNG project would have on stream couple of years ago but the losing party went to court put a stop to it.

Except for the initial success at Sui in 1952 where a 12 TCF reservoir was found (approx. 2.1 -billion bbl. oil equivalent) no major oil or gas reserves have been found. Next largest reservoir Mari gas field ( about 7-TCF recoverable reserves followed by Qadirpur at 4.2 TCF. All the rest small reservoirs and only became commercially viable when oil prices crossed $50 per bbl. We already know that total crude discoveries amounted to just over 1-billion barrels after 60 years of exploration.

Without doubt civilian governments have been inept; PPP in particular never learn how to spell ‘Governance’, naturally it does not exist any time PPP is in power. Corruption is rife, honesty, hard work and merit is considered a disqualification.

However, ordinary Pakistani people are equally to blame. Pakistan is the only country where everyone one, including gov’t department expect to use energy but not pay for it? As if realization that you can’t have anything for nothing short of ‘Rocket science’. Even the Prime Minister House, Pakistan railways, water board etc. owe billion of rupees. Some areas in KPK attack the teams sent to disconnect electricity supply due non payment of bills with firearms. There is a widespread theft of electricity, oil & gas. All these factors put together towards the perpetual load shedding and gas shortage problems and a major reason for rise in electricity bills of the paying customers.

However, lack of energy resources is not the root cause of the problems. Countries such as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan became industrial tigers without large scale energy resources. In my humble opinion, root cause of Pakistan’s problem is the paucity of the ‘Human Resource’.

Ignorant public elects incompetent leaders. Hundreds of MNA’s & MP’s were proven guilty of supplying fake educational degrees to the election commission. Doesn’t it show lack of personal integrity? However Jamshed Dasti, who was disqualified by the Court of Law for submitting a fake degree, was re-elected!

If you want to get ahead in the modern world, you need education, education and education. By this I don’t mean thru cheating or fake degrees. Educated people would not be duped by quoting large numbers. Also education will make people elect better leaders who would provide better governance.

Sir seem like only long lasting resource Pakistan have is potential hydropower of 100,000mw. Gas is running out, oil again not much. Coal is low quality so hardly anyone else will be interested in extracting and take it back. In fact Pakistan will import coal for coal based power plants.

And proper study is needed for shale gas & oil before we get any idea. Pakistani journalists indeed over hype these resources.

 

[The Unmistakable]

The estimated potential of Pakistan oil reserves is around 2 billion barrels as per our country geology from which we have already discovered around 1.2 billion barrels and consumed more than half of it till today. I totally agree with you in that case that some journalists just throw the arrow in the air having no sense or knowledge about the real figures. I remember few years ago, I read on one forum that Balochistan has the potential of 6 trillion barrels of oil and it was quoted from a newspaper then. I mean, how ridiculous claim that was that the total world potential of crude oil is around 3 trillion barrels from which 2 trillion barrels have been already discovered and less than 1 trillion barrels is yet to discover. So, that means Pakistan had more oil than the whole world ? That is the case actually with our journalists who put the false claims.