ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources last year had assigned the task to state-owned companies – OGDCL and PPL – for launching a pilot project in three to four months to determine cost of extracting Shale gas and oil after identification of their massive reserves but no significant headway has been made to this end.
A study, completed in cooperation with USAID, had confirmed presence of 10,159 trillion cubic feet (TCF) Shale gas and 2,323 billion of stock tank barrels (BSTB) Shale oil in place resources. Following which, the ministry directed Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) to prepare a pilot project to launch in selected areas of Balochistan, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa within the given time.
The project was scheduled to start in March this year, but it delayed due to technical reasons. “At present, there is no significant development on the project,” sources aware of the project updates told APP Thursday.
According to the study, there are 188 TCF gas and 58 BSTB oil technically recoverable resources while the risked technically recoverable resources stand at 95 TCF gas and 14 BSTB oil as per the study.
The study covered lower and middle Indus Basin which geographically spread over Sindh, southern parts of Punjab and eastern parts of Balochistan. Total area under the study was 271,700 kilometres, which is 33 percent of 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 availability of required technology and infrastructure for Shale gas operations and formulate guidelines for the Shale gas policy.
The study had further confirmed that basic technology required for Shale gas exploration i.e. horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, was available in the country and being used for conventional and tight gas reservoirs.
