‘35 new exploration licenses granted for gas exploration’

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Advisor to the prime minister on the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources Dr Asim Hussain on Thursday informed the National Assembly that the government had signed 35 new exploration licenses to explore new reserves of Natural Gas in the country during the past four years.
“Currently 133 exploration licenses for exploration of oil and gas are operating. A total of 100 exploratory wells were drilled during the reported period for exploration of oil and gas. As a result of these efforts, 39 oil/gas discoveries had been made which were under evaluation for reserve estimation,” said the advisor while responding to different questions during the question hour. “Efforts are being made to put these discoveries on production during 2012-2013. During the reported period, gas production had been enhanced from 3973 mmscfd (million standard cubic feet per day) to 4200 mmscfd. The Council of Common Interest (CCI) had approved the Tight Gas (Exploration and Production) Policy, 2011 which offered 40-50 percent higher prices than the price announced in exploration and production,” he added. He said that the policy government had announced a policy in the year 2009 to attract exploration companies to invest in tight gas fields. “Tight Gas Reserves are estimated at 24 TCF. Initially 100-150 mmcfd would be added depending on its success rate. Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Policy, 2012 has been notified that gives additional incentives to the investors for exploration of oil and gas in Pakistan,” he added. He said that around 486 cases of adulteration in petroleum products had been reported since January 1 2011, till date while 486 number of petrol pumps of Pakistan State Oil Company Limited had been found involved in the said adulteration.
“Action had been taken against such petrol pumps included possession/removal of the adulterated product by OMC, issuance of warning letters or show cause notices to the company and suspension of the supply of product and credit facility,” said the advisor.
He said that steps being taken to control adulteration included inspections/quality checks by OGRA through Hydrocarbon Development Institution of Pakistan (HDIP) at different stages. A dedicated Enforcement Department had been established within OGRA to undertake surprise quality checks/inspections directly.
Dr Asim said that OGRA had so far not issued instructions regarding closure of operational CNG stations across the country while OGRA had granted permission to forty-seven (47) CNG Stations for re-sitement of their CNG stations from previous locations to new locations before October 04 2011. Around 13 out of 47 CNG stations had also acquired CNG (Production and Marketing) Licences from OGRA to operate their respective CNG Stations at new Sites after fulfilment of requisite formalities. “The total daily quantity of gas being supplied to CNG stations in the country is 313 Million Cubic Feet per day (MMCFD) as on June 30”. Responding to a question, the advisor said that Pakistan and Russia were negotiating possibilities of participation of Russian Companies in Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline Project for financing and implementation. In this regard, the Russian side had recently informed through our Foreign Office that the company earlier nominated by Russian side had regretted to participate in the Project and had alternatively proposed another entity for negotiation on the project.