Thar coal to generate affordable energy

Eminent scientist Dr Samar Mubarakmand on Tuesday said Pakistan was on the brink of generating affordable electricity through the unexploited Thar coal reserves where the test burn for utilising the underground coal gas would be performed during the next few days.
Briefing the National Assembly Standing Committee on Petroleum, he said that the government had provided only $9.2 million for the project during the last two years for which a total allocation of $115 million was approved to generate 100 MW. The government has also assured to provide $9.2 million for importing machinery during the current fiscal year. Construction of first gasifier is 99 per cent complete, 36 wells are drilled and more than 50 per cent of the water has been pumped out and the underground coal would be ignited by the end of this month, he said adding that a four member expert team from Uzbekistan will arrive on September 19 to assist in the first test burn. He said help was taken from all quarters to make the project successful. He said they asked an Australian expert to witness the test burn but he demanded $2 million for four weeks. The Uzbeks on the other hand were coming without any financial consideration to help a brotherly Muslim country. Angren an Uzbek company is generating 400 MW from Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) since 1959.
UCG, he said was a successful process but required 14 ideal conditions out of which 12 were available for the Thar coal. The two missing conditions were means of communications and transmission network. Despite meager financing the team had managed to complete the pilot project to generate 35 MW initially that would be gradually enhanced to 100 MW by end 2013. The project would generate 10,000 MW during the next 30 years or it could be used for producing 160,000 barrels of diesel. The cost of electricity would be Rs4 per unit. About the uses of UCG, he said it could be utilised for power generation, diesel, fertiliser, and even for gas supplies. Four other companies having blocks in Thar desert are awaiting results of our project, as conventional mining on 175 billion tonnes of reserves which is submerged under sea water was not financially viable. “If we are successful, it will immediately be replicated by the other investors”. About the difficulties, he said that contractors were not supplying air compressors as one of the contractors even lied on opening the letter of credit which he probably did on the instigation of some lobby and now they have ordered the same equipment from Atlas Belgium. However, he brushed aside concerns that ignition of underground coal could go out of control. The coal reserves have no methane and proper scientific tools were in-place to control any untoward situation. He said that it was up to the government to decide how much electricity it wanted, as after the pilot project only drilling was required to generate 5,000 to 10,000 MW.
For countering the gas crisis in the short term, Dr Mubarak said they have proposed to the industries to opt for surface gasifiers that use coal and water for coal gasification which could be utilised for gas supplies as well as for power generation. More than 10 companies have shifted to the surface gasifiers which is economical for gas supplies, as indigenous coal could be utilised. The committee recommended that the government should provide all the resources to Dr Mubarak to generate electricity that will enable the country to come out of the energy crisis. Chairman of the committee Sardar Talib Hassan Nakai asked him submit a written reply to the queries raised by Nawab Yousaf Talpur. Earlier the committee members expressed serious concern over the continued absence of the Minister of Petroleum from the committee meetings. Chairman Talib Nakai said that the concerned minister should have attended the meeting as a project of national importance was under discussion. He said that he would raise the matter with the Speaker and Prime Minister. Secretary Petroleum Ejaz Chaudhary told the committee that a proactive approach was being followed to overcome the energy shortages. He said 125 mmcfd from Kuner Pasaki would be linked to the transmission network by December, this year. He said the recent maintenance work at Qadirpur gas field would generate 80 mmcfd more output and 50 mmcfd would be provided from Sarwan Kandwari by October this year. He said that work on Iran Pakistan gas pipeline has been expedited and route reconnaissance was completed and efforts were being made to complete the project by 2013.