Stuff that rocks are made of
Stuff that rocks are made of
Editorial
Editorial

Balochistan is blessed with huge mineral deposits including copper, gold, oil and gas and many others. Province has not yet been able to utilize all these largesse and gifts given to us from nature. Governments at provincial and federal level also have not so far been able to encourage growth rate and eradicate poverty by utilizing and exploiting these mineral resources as various other under developed nations. Regrettably efforts for mineral development are limited to rare industrial minerals such as chromite, marble and coal for interior power generation. Mineral resources of Balochistan are gigantic and emerging as a promising for mineral exploration.

Balochistan is blessed with huge mineral deposits including copper, gold, oil and gas and many others. Province has not yet been able to utilize all these largesse and gifts given to us from nature. Governments at provincial and federal level also have not so far been able to encourage growth rate and eradicate poverty by utilizing and exploiting these mineral resources as various other under developed nations. Regrettably efforts for mineral development are limited to rare industrial minerals such as chromite, marble and coal for interior power generation. Mineral resources of Balochistan are gigantic and emerging as a promising for mineral exploration.

Exploration and geological surveys have confirmed that potential deposits in the metallic as well as industrial minerals and all these minerals have great prospects for export to the world. Balochistan also has the Pakistan extensive oil and gas reservoirs. Estimated that country’s 25.1 trillion cubic feet of recognized natural gas reserves, 19 trillion deposits are located alone in Balochistan province.  Estimated that oil resources of Pakistan are 300 million barrel and these deposits are also largely located in Balochistan. Province can offer great opportunities in oil and gas exploration sector for investors. Pakistan produce four billion cubic feet per day against the total demand of six billion cubic feet per day and Pakistan has to import 1.2 billion cubic feet Liquid Natural Gas LNG to meet the domestic requirements.

Extensive use of hydrocarbon reservoirs in the country indicating that these deposits would further reduce and drained by 60 per cent expectedly by 2027. Dire need to accelerate exploration in Balochistan Potential areas on immediate basis because this is the region which is surrounded by Afghanistan an outshoot of central Asia and Iran part of middle east, both regions knows as huge oil and gas reservoirs. Out of 827,268 kilometers sedimentary are 320,741 kilometer area is under exploration in Pakistan. Like predecessors present government of Pakistan Tahrik e Insaaf under the leadership of Imran Khan has made some policy changes to facilitate new companies in the exploration and production sector for getting approval to start drilling activities in potential areas. Beyond any qualm exploration sector is the more practical and viable option in economic sense and it will also be rational to explore the indigenous energy resources rather than to go for import of gas from other countries. Sui in Balochistan is still the single largest gas field in Pakistan.

It is pertinent to mention that almost 20 to 25 per cent of the total natural deposits of natural gas are being exploited from Balochistan alone from industrial and financial point of view. Sui gas field is still single largest source of energy supply for different sectors, including domestic sectors, power generation, and agriculture and also for fertilizers, chemical and other industrial sectors. Quantum of natural gas production from sui gas field is of vital source of foreign exchange savings for the country as the same would have been spent on the import of the energy had the gas reserves in abundance not yet been discovered. Balochistan borders Iran, a country of the region which is also very rich in oil and gas deposits, according to the some reports that discovery and drilling of oil wells in Balochistan will cause the Iran’s oil to flow towards Balochistan which is geologically located below the level of the surface of Iran. Not confirmed but it is also claimed by some independent analysts that there is a bounding obligation for not drilling oil wells in Balochistan through a secret deal.

According to the Geological survey of USA, Balochistan has petroleum resources of around 100 million barrels of oil and 24.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. If we focus on stepping op indigenous production Pakistan could significantly curtail its import bill. Think tanks also suggested that Pakistan should consider ways to boost investment in domestic exploration and development of its mineral resources. According to the PPL it is important to have the financial muscles available to continue the activity marred by the circular debt issue. After the discovery of the Sui Gas field, exploration activities kicked off in full swing and from 1952 to 1060, 4.9 billion barrels of oil equivalent gas discovered which means about 45 per cent of the gas discovered in Pakistan was already found within 10 years of the discovery.  But according to the international assessments Balochistan offers great potential for the oil and gas sects as it boasts of extensive oil and gas reserves. It is estimated that total oil reserves of Balochistan alone are around 313 million barrels and proven gas reservoirs are estimated at 29.67 trillion cubic fees. According to another international assessment Balochistan has six trillion barrels of oil in onshore and offshore reservoirs. Geological data is available for the offshore basin but only 16 exploration wells have been drilled in Pakistan yet though offshore drilling so far and the potential has not yet been identified.

Pakistan stands 19th across the world with 205 trillion cubic feet technically recoverable reserves.  Building a shale oil and gas industry for the future of the country will generate vast investment opportunities and shale gas exploration and production will transform Pakistan’s economy and revolutionize existing energy. Mekran coast the Indus Delta one of the largest basins comparable to world’s most prolific offshore delta such as Nile and Niger. According to the report of SDPI published in 2015, development of shale oil and gas may be sufficient to fulfill the gas and oil demand for the next 50 years. Reports also suggested that the development of shale oil and gas is more labor intensive as compared to the conservative resources, especially during the drilling phase estimated may accommodate 750000 skilled and unskilled labors. Mentioning about shale oil and gas potential, it also unfolds that in terms of total technically recoverable shale gas reserves, Pakistan stands 19th in the world. It has about 205 TCF technically recoverable reserves. In the USA and Canada, the daily production of Shale Gas is 32 BCF and 4 BCF, whereas in China and Poland, despite heavy utilization, the production is 600 and 150 million Cubic Feet per day respectively. In India, two oil & gas giants failed to unlock shale gas mainly because of the complex geology and the lack of accurate data.