Argentina helping Pakistan fight energy crisis

KARACHI: The Embassy of the Argentine Republic in Islamabad is actively promoting technology transfer between Argentinean and Pakistani companies especially in the energy sector.

In pursuance of this objective, Ambassador of the Argentine Republic to Pakistan Rodolfo Martin Saravia arranged a presentation at the embassy to introduce GNC Galileo SA Argentina’s state-of-the-art Virtual Pipeline® Technology to demonstrate the concern and the commitment of the government of Argentina to help the government and people of Pakistan to overcome Pakistan’s current energy shortages.

The ambassador said that in response to the government of Pakistan’s initiative to monetise unutilised gas in order to reduce energy load shedding in the country, GNC Galileo SA Argentina, a world leader in compressed natural gas (CNG) technologies, with the active support and encouragement of the government of Argentina through its embassy in Islamabad, proposes to introduce its state-of-the-art Virtual Pipeline® Technology to transport natural gas (NG) by road from source to end customer (which could be industry, households or commercial outlets) less expensive than any other alternative fuel. Galileo’s technology presents a safe and efficient, end to end solution including well-head compression, processing, storage, transportation and dispensing. The technology is proven in over 20 projects commissioned in 12 countries worldwide (the latest project being in Sabah, Malaysia). Galileo’s Virtual Pipeline® is certified by Bureau Veritas, which is the worldwide leader in ISO audit.

Virtual Pipeline® delivers NG by storing it in specially designed and manufactured, impact resistant and fireproof containers, which maintain the required pressure and temperature. These containers are then transported by prime movers from source to industrial, commercial and domestic customers. The technology is so safe that it allows NG to be transported through residential areas and busy markets! This is in stark comparison to alternative options of road transportation of NG, which involve either open cylinders on the back of a truck or bowzers, which are both unsafe and inefficient. Not only that, Virtual Pipeline’s flexibility allows suppliers to shift deliveries between customers whenever needed.

Pakistan has been facing an unprecedented energy crisis for the past several years. The situation is worsening day by day and is severely impacting our economy. There is a shortfall of about 8 GW in the country’s power generation capacity. NG is being used in Pakistan by households, manufacturing and power industry and the transport sector. Currently, there is a deficit of up to 2 billion cubic feet in NG supply.

With such massive reliance on the fuel at a time when oil and derived products have become very expensive, Pakistan must ensure that it efficiently brings every single molecule of NG to the end-customer. This requires the urgent exploitation of dormant, stranded and low yield NG fields reserve estimates for which range between 140 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) to 250 MMSCFD. These volumes could produce up to 1,700 megawatts of power or replace the total volumes of gas currently being used by the CNG sector.

The conventional solution (underground pipeline based transmission infrastructure) is extremely investment intensive. It restricts both the utilisation of smaller NG fields and delivery of NG to remote or low demand-density markets. Virtual Pipeline® caters for exactly such situations and, thus, provides a perfect option that is profitable, safe and efficient. All it needs is the proper incentives for implementation. staff report

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