



The government on Monday reiterated its resolve to push ahead with the $1.5 billion Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project, recalling that its internationally outcast neighbour was the first Muslim country to recognise Pakistan after its creation.





Addressing a seminar on ‘Pakistan’s Potential in Oil and Gas Sector’, organised by the Petroleum Institute of Pakistan (PIP), Inter-State Gas Systems (ISGS) Managing Director Mubeen Sulat said that Pakistan and Iran had made a “lot of progress” on the project.“Iran has completed almost 90% work on the gas pipeline and we have completed a detailed engineering survey and a bankable feasibility study for the gas import project, which has entered the implementation stage,” he said.Pakistan will import 750 million cubic feet of gas per day (mmcfd) under the IP pipeline project, with the first flow scheduled for December 2014. “We are now approaching the phase of awarding construction contracts for the pipeline,” he added. He claimed that Pakistan had also “made a lot of progress” on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project.Pakistan will import 1.3 billion cubic feet of gas per day (bcfd) under this project and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been playing the role of transaction adviser for arranging financing. “We have received good response to requests for financing the TAPI gas pipeline project from leading investors, during road shows in different countries,” Sulat added.In his inaugural address, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Petroleum and Natural Resources Dr Asim Hussain stressed upon exploration and production companies operating in Pakistan to support the Petroleum Institute of Pakistan (PIP) and to help develop it into a think tank for policy initiatives for the oil and gas sector.Hussain said that Pakistan offers great potential in the oil and gas sector and assured full cooperation and facilitation to all investors who wished to invest in the country.He further said that the government is also working on tight gas, low BTU gas, shale gas, marginal gases, flared gas and stranded gas policies, in order to tap available resources for the benefit of the country.Outlining the achievements of the government, Hussain informed the gathering that 1.6 million consumers had been given gas connections at a cost of Rs10.41 billion, while 879 kilometres of transmission lines and 39,707 km of distribution and service lines were added to the existing network with an investment of Rs61.164 billion during the last four and a half years.“As a result of current efforts, 750 mmcfd of gas is likely to be added to the system by June 2013 – an increase of 20%,” he added.He said that the government had prepared the National Mineral Policy 2012 to meet the challenges of large-scale mining and to enhance international competitiveness.It was stated that the country imported oil to the tune of $15 billion, which constituted 36% of the overall import bill of the country. The value of gas produced annually in the country is $4.3 billion and oil produced in the country is $2.4 billion, he added.Oil and Gas Development Company Limited MD Masood Siddiqui said that incentives announced in the new petroleum policy had had a direct impact on exploration activities. “We have revised our drilling target for June 30, 2013 from 28 to 35 wells,” he said, adding that oil and gas production would also increase due to enhanced exploration activities.The director general petroleum concessions said that the government had decided to auction 60 blocks after the announcement of the new petroleum policy. “We will conduct road shows in November in different countries to attract oil and gas exploration companies to participate in the bidding process.”Published in The Express Tribune, October 9, 2012.