Experts say shale oil and gas resources would be sufficient to meet the country's energy needs for more than 50 years. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
Experts have floated shale oil and gas extraction as solutions to the country’s energy crisis.
They said that shale oil and gas resources, if developed, would be sufficient to meet the country’s energy needs for more than 50 years and would slash the $5 billion spent annually on importing petroleum products.
They were speaking at the concluding ceremony of a three-day workshop titled “Bridging government, industry and academia”, held here on Friday. The workshop was jointly-organised by the Centre for Advanced Studies in Energy (CAS-E), the University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Peshawar and the University of Cambridge, UK, and sponsored by the British Council Researchers Link Programme.
Experts from the Cambridge University and leading Pakistani universities including LUMS, NUST and the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) deliberated on best practices to find out solutions to energy problems.
SDPI Adviser Arshad Abbasi also launched a report titled “Shale oil and gas: the lifeline of Pakistan”.
Higher Education Commission Chairman Imtiaz Gilani, who is also the vice chancellor of UET Peshawar, highlighted the importance of developing shale oil and gas to overcome the energy crisis in the country, where demand was rising at an exponential rate and natural gas reserves are depleting fast.
He said that the shale oil and gas exploration was more labour-intensive and claimed it would help generate employment for around 750,000 people.
Planning commission Task Force on Exploitation of Shale Gas Chairman Dr Gulfaraz Ahmad said that Pakistan has the shale gas reserves to become one of the world’s top natural gas producers. He said that the task force will soon come up with a shale gas policy for proper exploitation of the resource.
He urged for linkages between the academia, investors and the government to turn it into a reality.
SDPI Senior Adviser on Water and Power Engr Arshad H Abbasi suggested that the HEC chairman should have an engineering background as most problems related to energy, economy and water could only be addressed through engineering-oriented solutions.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 30th, 2014.
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These professors can only talk and talk, they are no experts . ground realities are alot different