Tal discovery may make gas reserves sufficient for 30 years

By Farhan Sharif

KARACHI: The size of discovery at Tal Block near Kohat is likely to take the total gas reserves sufficient for over 30 years.

Before this discovery, the country had gas reserves for 20-25 years. The average annual consumption of gas on the country is around 33 trillion cubic feet of gas, sources in one of the major share holding companies at the block told the Daily Times on Wednesday.

“Even with a conservative estimate, size of the discovery is large enough to push the total reserve figures high to make it enough for 30 years’ consumption,” said the source.

The inauguration of the new discovery at the Tal Block has been postponed since chairman of one of the major shareholding company is out of country, and due to the encouraging size of discovery the prime minister is likely to inaugurate the Tal Block discovery.

Abdul Rasheed, head of research at Foundation Securities Limited, said currently the estimated reserves of gas stood around 33 trillion cubic feet, which was sufficient for the next 20-25 years.

He said the estimate of duration that the current announced reserves could be utilized was based on annual consumption of around 1.2 trillion cubic feet to 1.3 trillion cubic feet. And if it was a matter of adding around five to ten yeas in estimated consumption duration, it would require around eight to fifteen trillion cubic feet of new gas discovery in current reserves. The actual size of the discovery size will able analysts to estimate the how long the total reserves increase in total time of consumption of reserves.

On Tuesday share price of exploration and production sector companies showed significant increase due to some reports about the Tal block discovery. The management of KSE issued a letter to listed companies asking to follow code of corporate governance regarding sharing information with frontline regulator and the regulating authority.

On the other hand one of the shareholding company Pakistan Oilfields (POL) through a letter issued at the Karachi Sock Exchange (KSE) has clarified and informed that in case of any material information relating to company, which may affect the market price of the share, the company will disseminate such information to the stock exchange in accordance with the requirements of the listing regulations.

“However, it may please be noted that prior to dissemination of any information, it is in the interest of all concerned that the fact relating to the material information are first properly ascertained and established and only reliable information is disseminated. This is especially applicable in case of oil and gas exploration, where the nature of oil and gas reserves requires careful evaluation after testing,” the letter issued by the company said.

Regarding the current issue of gas discovery at Tal Block the company’s statement said while the Manzalo-2 well has tested oil and gas, as per the latest information, testing is still going on, “it would be inappropriate for us to disseminate any information before the testing is concluded and the results are properly evaluated by the operator of block.”

According to the sources the new discovery has been made at Manzilai and Makori fields near Kohat, where MOL has been working as operator of the block. In other shareholders at Tal Block Pakistan Petroleum has 30 percent, Oil and Gas Development Company Limited has 30 percent and Pakistan Oilfields keeps 25 percent of share holding at the block.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?p...23-2-2006_pg5_2

Three trillion cubic feet gas reserves predicted in NWFP
AFTAB MAKEN
ISLAMABAD (February 23 2006): Gas reserves of nearly 2 to 3 trillion cubic feet have been predicted in North West Frontier Province (NWFP), and work is underway to ascertain the full range of the find, it is learnt.

Sources in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources told Business Recorder on Wednesday that the gas reserves had not been fully measures, but they were in large quantity.

However, the Hungarian oil and gas group, MOL, said that test data from drills in the Tal block gas and oil field was encouraging, but the process is still in early stages. Testing drills and technical appraisal of the Manzalai-2 well in Tal block have not been completed, it added.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's visit to the areas for inauguration of gas field has been cancelled due to security reasons, as MMA has announced shutter-down strike for February 24.

"Although the test data to this point is encouraging, before the final results, any speculation about the Tal block or the latest finds are therefore premature," the MOL statement said. It said that information about gas reserves would be given after the testing of Manzalai-2 well is completed.

MOL has 10-percent stake in a consortium including Oil and Gas Development Co Ltd (OGDC), Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), Pakistan Oilfields Ltd (POL) and Government Holdings Ltd (GHPL), with MOL as operator.

The company is credited with two major hydrocarbon discoveries in Tal Block of NWFP. It is already supplying 50 million cubic feet per day natural gas from its Manzalai-1 (Gurguri) well, to SNGPL at Kohat.

This has significantly improved the chances of supplies to other parts of NWFP where natural gas is only available in Peshawar. It also produces 1500 barrels per day from Makori-I, and a third well called Manzalai II is being currently tested.

The groups' exploration-production operating profit in the closing year increased by $527.3 million, as increase in international crude production and higher transfer prices compensated for the lower domestic hydrocarbon production, increasing royalty charges on Hungarian and Russian operations and the impairment on certain domestic fields.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=3902...&term=&supDate=

excellent news!

pak needs lots of energy in this phase of economic development. And if we have enough for next 20 years, it will be enough for now. 20 is enough time to look for alternatives and build new dams and reactors etc.

excellent news!

pak needs lots of energy in this phase of economic development. And if we have enough for next 20 years, it will be enough for now. 20 is enough time to look for alternatives and build new dams and reactors etc.

PM may open new gas discovery in NWFP soon

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Prime Mini-ster Shaukat Aziz is likely to inaugurate the new gas discovery in the NWFP soon after he returns from his foreign trip, a senior government official told the Daily Times.

Gas reserves of nearly 2-3 trillion cubic feet have been predicted in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), and work is under way to ascertain the full scale of the discovery. However, some experts are of the view that the discovery could be the largest one in Pakistan’s history.

However, Hungarian oil and gas group MOL stated that test data from drills in the Tal block gas and oil field was encouraging, but the process was still going on. Test drills and the technical appraisal of the Manzalai-2 well in Tal block had not been concluded, MOL said.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s scheduled visit to the areas for the inauguration of gas field was cancelled due to security reason, as the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal announced a shutterdown strike on Feb 24.

"Although the test data to this point is encouraging, before the final results, any speculation about the Tal block or the latest finds are therefore premature," MOL said in a statement.

MOL has a 10 percent stake in a consortium, which includes the Oil and Gas Development Co Ltd (OGDCL), Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL) and Government Holdings Limited (GHPL), with MOL as an operator.

The company is credited with two major hydrocarbon discoveries in Tal block of the NWFP. It is already supplying 50 million cubic feet per day natural gas from its Manzalai-1 (Gurguri) well to the SNGPL at Kohat.

This has significantly improved chances of supplies to other parts of the NWFP where natural gas is available only in few cities. It also produces 1,500 bbl per day from Makori-I and a third well called Manzali II is being currently tested.

The groups’ exploration-production operating profit in the closing year increased by $527.3 million, as the increase in international crude production and higher transfer prices compensated for the lower domestic hydrocarbon production, increasing royalty charges on Hungarian and Russian operations and the impairment on certain domestic fields.