Over 30 trillion cubic feet gas reserves lying trapped in unexplored reservoirs

[Naveed Yaseen]

RECORDER REPORT
ISLAMABAD (November 05 2008): Over 30 trillion cubic feet gas reserves has been estimated to be lying trapped in the tight reservoirs of Pakistan, said Petroleum Secretary G A Sabri. He said that the government was working hard to enhance the exploration activities to explore these reserves for the oil and gas production.

In a statement, read out at a two-day seminar organised by Pakistan Petroleum Exploration and Production Companies Association (PPEPCA) here on Tuesday, he said the government was pursuing pragmatic policies to increase the discoveries and production of oil and gas.

Sabri, who is currently visiting Saudi Arabia with President Asif Ali Zardari, sent a statement to the seminar that was delivered to the participants by the Director General of Petroleum Concession Khushal Khan Khattak. Sabri said there was a need to develop strong local and Foreign E&P companies and service sector to further strengthen the oil and gas producing capacity of the country.

President of PPEPCA Technical Expert Committee Syed Wamiq Bokhari explained that the tight reservoirs were of poor quality and, therefore, required additional effort and expensive technologies to recover gas from there. "As the cost is very high, it becomes economically prohibitive for the oil companies to produce gas from these," he said.

He said modern technologies and improvements in fiscal terms would make recovery of gas from some of the tight reservoirs economical and help meet Pakistan's deficient energy needs. The seminar was organised to look at ways to produce substantial gas reserves that are currently trapped in tight reservoirs in Pakistan. Having identified the issues, the participants looked at various solutions, different technologies and fiscal incentives that can be deployed to produce gas.

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