*ISLAMABAD*: The government is in the process of finalising a policy to exploit massive shale gas and oil reserves that were identified after a study completed in collaboration with the USAID some four years ago.
“Shale gas policy is being prepared for onward submission and approval of the quarters concerned,” a senior official in the Petroleum Division told APP on Friday.
In 2015, he said, a study, completed in collaboration with the USAID, had confirmed the presence of 10,159 trillion cubic feet (TCF) shale gas and 2,323 billion stock tank barrels (BSTB) shale oil in place resources.
The second phase of the study would be launched in other potential areas to assess the sedimentary rock-based fuel reserves in the country, he added.
He said after the identification of the deposits, a task had been given to the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited and the Pakistan Petroleum Limited to undertake the pilot project(s) in potential areas to assess the cost of extracting shale gas and oil. “However, the project has not been launched to date.”
According to the study, there were 188TCF gas and 58BSTB technically recoverable oil resources, while the risked technically recoverable resources stood at 95TCF gas and 14BSTB oil.
The study covered lower and middle Indus Basin, which geographically spreads over Sindh, southern parts of Punjab and eastern parts of Balochistan.
The total area under the study was 271,700km, which is 33pc 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 United States. Objectives of the study were to validate shale gas resource estimate, initial findings, assess the availability of required technology and infrastructure for shale gas operations and formulate guidelines for the shale gas policy.
Following the discovery, a dedicated shale gas and oil centre had been established at the Petroleum House to facilitate interested exploration and production companies to exploit the potential.