Pakistan believed to have record gas, oil reserves

Pakistan has about 105 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of shale gas and over nine billion barrels of oil - far larger untapped reserves than previously known, according to a media report today.
The estimates by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) are greater than Pakistan's proved hydrocarbon reserves of 24 TCF for gas and about 300 million barrels of oil, the Dawn newspaper reported.
The country currently produces about 4.2 billion cubic feet of gas and about 70,000 barrels of oil a day.
According to June 2013 estimates of the EIA based on surveys conducted by Advanced Resources International (ARI), a total of 1,170 TCF of "risked" shale gas are estimated for the India-Pakistan region, including 584 TCF in India and 586 TCF in Pakistan.

Technically recoverable shale gas is estimated at 201 TCF, with 96 TCF in India and 105 TCF in Pakistan.
The recoverable shale oil resources for the two countries is estimated at 12.9 billion barrels, including 3.8 billion barrels for India and 9.1 billion barrels for Pakistan.

The southern and central Indus basins are located in Pakistan, along the border with India and Afghanistan. They are bounded by the Indian shield on the east and highly folded and thrust mountains on the west, the report said.
An unnamed Pakistan government official described the new estimates as "very very encouraging" but said the US agency had not shared the data with Pakistan.

He said shale gas had seen tremendous developments in the United States and a few other countries were trying to use the latest technology to exploit it.
Pakistan, he said, is encouraging exploration and production companies to venture into this sector.