Despite various challenges, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources is working on several fronts to meet the country’s growing energy requirements.
As part of such efforts, the government recently announced a new exploration bid round offering 60 exploration blocks along with Road Shows in Houston and London in early December to showcase the Petroleum Policy 2012 and lure the multinational companies to participate in this bid round, an official of the ministry of petroleum and natural resource said Thursday.
He said policy was as one of the best in the world since it offers level playing field for E & P companies, both local and international ones.
He said the policy offers price up to a maximum of US $ 6.5 per MMBTU for onshore and up to a maximum of US $ 9 per MMBTU for offshore oil and gas discoveries.
He also informed the government for the first time in its history has formulated policies on Tight Gas and Low BTU Gas.
As regards the prospects of oil and gas exploration in the country, he pointed out that Pakistan is endowed with vast sedimentary area of over 800,000 square kilo-meters of which over 70 percent is yet to be explored.
The success ratio of oil and gas discoveries is one of the best in the world as is evident from the success ratio of 1 : 3.22 discovery rate.
Similarly, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has approved the LPG (Production and Distribution) Policy Guidelines, 2012 which would help end cartelization in LPG market and promoting its utilization in the automotive sector.
In addition, the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and United Energy of USA recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) pertaining to supply of Liquified Natural Gas(LNG) in Houston.
He said according to the MOU signed between SSGC and United LNG of USA, the later will supply 4 Million metric tons of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) per year to SSGC, supplementing the government’s efforts to ensure energy security of the country.
It is expected that the landed cost of LNG with an inbuilt cap, including transportation and re-gasification cost, he added, the price of gas will be less than the price of Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline Project and Turkmenistan – Afghanistan – Pakistan – India (TAPI) Gas Pipeline Project. However, the MoU of supply of LNG from USA will be subject to approval of both Governments – USA and Pakistan.
Recently as a promising sign, the official said the Oil and
Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) has made a discovery of 20 mmcfd gas at well head flowing pressure of 3340 PSI in Sindh Province, which would go a long way in easing the gas crisis.
The official said the government was giving top priority to domestic consumers and during the present government 1.6 million consumers were given gas connections.
Despite the current challenges, the official said the government was committed to providing gas to consumers, adding 879 kilometers of transmission lines and 38,828 km of distribution and service lines were added to the gas network, the source added.
Similarly, the official said the government was also working on bringing in gas through the Iran-Pakistan (IP) and Turkmenistan- Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Gas pipeline projects to meet growing energy demand in the country.
