Only 20% areas explored for oil and gas

KARACHI: Energy experts have said only 10 to 20 per cent of the high potential areas in the country have been explored by oil and gas exploration and production companies over the last 60 years.

They said Pakistan has a minimum 60 to 90 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas reserves. The experts were speaking at the first session of the POGEE (Pakistan Oil, Gas and Energy Exhibition) Conference 2010 titled “Securing Pakistan’s Energy Future: Options and Prospects,” at the Karachi Expo Centre on Thursday.

Technical Manager (Joint Venture) Tullow, UK, Muhammad Athar Jamil said Pakistan can get at least two to eight TCF of gas from Balochistan if the security situation improved. He said Pakistan’s success rate is 33 per cent while the world’s average success rate is 25 per cent. The western frontier of Pakistan is a high impact exploration area, he added.

Published in the Express Tribune, May 21st,  2010.