ISLAMABAD: The Petroleum Division is in the process of formulating avibrant policy to exploit massive shale gas and oil reserves by attractingmultinational companies in the exploration sector of the country.
According to a latest official document available with APP, the Shale GasPolicy will attract many multinational companies to come to Pakistan forundertaking exploration to discover Shale gas and oil in the country.
In 2015, a study completed in cooperation with the United States Agency forInternational Development (USAID) had confirmed the presence of 10,159trillion cubic feet (TCF) shale gas and 2,323 billion of stock tank barrels(BSTB) shale oil in place resources.
The study covered lower and middle Indus Basin, which geographicallyspreads over Sindh, southern parts of Punjab and eastern partsof Balochistan. The total area under the study was 271,700km, which is 33per cent of the total sedimentary area of the country.
During the study, a detailed analysis of 124 wells was carried out,including laboratory analysis on Shale Cores and cuttings in the UnitedStates (US). Objectives of the study were to validate shale gas resourceestimate, initial findings, assess the availability of required technologyand infrastructure for operations and formulate guidelines for the policy.
According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) Shale GasAssessment Report 2015 (USA), Pakistan has around 105 TCF of recoverableshale gas and 9.1 Billion Barrels of recoverable shale oil resources.
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Following the discovery, a dedicated Shale gas and oil centre had beenestablished at the Petroleum House to facilitate interested Exploration andProduction companies to exploit the potential.
The successful exploitation of shale gas could also provide Pakistan with asustainable supply of natural gas and oil; Pakistan’s estimated natural gasdemand stood at about 6 Billion Cubic Feet per Day (BCFD), out of whichless than 4 BCFD gas was being produced locally.
To determine the cost of extracting shale gas and oil, Oil and GasDevelopment Company Limited (OGDCL) and United Energy Petroleum Limited(UEPL) are undertaking drilling activities near Hyderabad.
The drilling, initiated on December 14, 2019, at the shale gas well, KUC-01(Kunar Unconventional-1), is in progress to acquire geological andengineering data for further planning of the pilot project.
