Share this story!            

Pak energy demand to reach 361MT of oil equivalent by ’30

By Fida Hussain

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s energy demand has been estimated to reach 361 million tonnes of oil equivalent (MTOE) by 2030 and this huge surge could pose a serious threat to the future development programmes, a senior government official told Daily Times.

Without ensuring the security of energy supplies, the development programmes would collapse, said the official. The cumulative oil and gas exploratory effort in Pakistan so far has been very small. He said that an official study indicated that less than one well per 1000 kms is drilled in Pakistan against the world average of 10 wells in the same distance.

The official said that 302 wells have been drilled during the last 14 years around 22 well per year, which resulted in a net addition of 13.7 MTOE in oil reserves and 125.3 MTOE gas reserves. Under the government’s energy security plan 2005, the government is planning to drill approximately 990 exploratory wells during 2005-30. The government will also intensify the offshore exploration efforts, the official said.

According to a recent study of the Planning Commission (PC), due to the rising oil prices in the international market, the oil and gas exploration will become an attractive sector for foreign as well as the local companies.

Pakistan has onshore and offshore sedimentary area of 827,268 square km, according to the PC. The conventional recoverable oil and gas resources potential of Pakistan, based on volumetric yield method, has been estimated as 3,622 MTOE or 27 billion barrels of oil and 6,8850 MTOE or 282 trillion CFT of gas. This oil and gas potential corresponds to 0.75 percent, respectively of the world resource potential.

According to the study, some three percent of the estimated oil and 15 percent of the estimated natural gas potential resources have been discovered so far in Pakistan from some 620 exploratory well drilled over the past 40 years. The study says that if cumulative production was allowed, the remaining recoverable proven reserves of oil are only 41 MTOE while that of the natural gas are significant at 612 MTOE.

More than 85 percent of oil and 50 percent of coal used in Pakistan is imported. The use of coal, nuclear and new renewable energy sources of wind and solar is small compared to the present world average shares, the study says.

The expansion of production by the major oil suppliers would require capital investment in Africa and the Middle East (ME) alone of $45 billion a year over the next three decades, up from the current $8 billion a year. This is a huge amount, and the oil rich African and Middle Eastern countries will need foreign partners to bridge the funding gap and spread the investment risk, the study says.

Pakistan’s appetite for energy is a part of Asia’s growing demand for reliable flow of reasonably priced oil and gas. Asia’s oil consumption will surpass North America’s consumption by 2010, reaching nearly half of the total world demand by 2020. This realisation has generated an intense race buying into reserves in present and future oil and gas producing fields.

Home | Business

Share this story!