Govt eyes 43.8 mln barrel domestic crude oil production in 2016-17

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The government targets to produce 43.8 million barrels of domestic crude oil and 1.51 trillion cubic feet of gas during the financial year 2016-17, official sources said.

The supply demand gap in both the oil and gas sectors will be filled through import of crude oil and petroleum products.

“The indigenous gas supply will be supplemented through LNG imports to the tune of 4.5 million tonnes,” the sources added.

Highlighting the programmes for promotion of the fuel sector, the sources added that a total of 116 wells including 52 exploratory and 64 development ones were planned to be drilled by the exploration and production (E&P) companies.

The seven existing oil marketing companies (OMCs) will construct ten new oil storages at six locations, they added.

The sources said that the upgradation projects of Attock Refinery Limited (ARL) to enhance refinery capacity by 10,400 barrels per day (BPD),Premier Motor Gasoline (PMG) by 20,000 tonnes per month and Euro-II 0.05 per cent Sulphur HSD, were expected to be completed by the end of 2016.

Similarly, they said, the other refineries i.e. National Refinery Limited (NRL) and Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) will complete their up-gradation projects by June 30, 2017.

Both the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Pipeline Limited (SSGCL) have plans to add a total of 412,058 new consumers to their respective systems during the year 2016-17, the sources added.

In addition, they said SNGPL and SSGCL have plans to lay down 6,032 km of new transmission, distribution and service pipelines in their respective networks.

The sources said that in order to transmit the imported LNG to up-country, and SSGCL would construct 42″ diameter 342-km pipeline from Karachi(Pakistan) to Khirpur (Nara) for transporting 1.2 BCF RLNG dedicatedly to SNGPL.

The project, they said was expected to be commissioned by December 2016. Moreover, they said 4 LPG air mix plants will also be installed.

“The Gwadar-Nawabshah Natural Gas Pipeline and LNG Terminal at Gwadar are being actively pursued to be completed by 2018,” they remarked.

The official sources said that during 2016-17 the LNG import was planned to be increased to 4.50 million tonnes per annum, in order to enhance import capability of the country with regard to LNG. Another LNG Terminal is being undertaken by Pakistan LNG Terminal Company Limited (PLTCL) established by the government.

The bids for the 2nd terminal were invited by PLTL and were under evaluation by the company, they remarked.

They said that the Turkmanistan Afghanistan Pakistan India (TAPI) gas project decisions including finalisation of transit fee, gas transport agreement and appointment of EPC contractor will be implemented during 2016-17.

The implementation of the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas power project will be reviewed in consultation with the Iranian counterpart and accordingly a revised implementation framework will be devised.

The sources added that an amount of Rs 143 million has been allocated in PSDP 2016-17 for the two projects of Geological Survey of Pakistan.

The projects, they said, were appraisal of newly discovered coal resources of Badin Coal Field and adjoining areas of the Southern Sindh and exploration of Tertiary Coal in Central Salt Range, Punjab.

The Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) with their Chinese contractors will continue its mining project of 3.8 million tonnes per annum capacity for supplying the Thar coal to 2×330 MW power plant at Block-II. About 40 million cubic meters of over burden will be removed while under dewatering operations mine will be dewatered to the tune of 35 cusecs per day.

Official sources further said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Oil and Gas Company Ltd (KPOGCL) has planned to execute Basin Studies of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Establishment of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Hydrocarbon Research Centre (KPHRC).

The government of Punjab, they said has also established Punjab Energy Holding Company (PEHC) to cater for Oil and Gas exploration in the province in close collaboration with the director-general Petroleum Concession of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, they said.