ISLAMABAD, Oct 8: To tap all available gas reserves, the government is working on policies for exploration of shale gas, and some other gases, including marginal, flared and stranded.

This was stated by Dr Asim Hussain, advisor to the Prime Minister on Petroleum and Natural Resources while presiding over a seminar titled “Pakistan’s Potential in Oil and Gas Sector,” organised by the Petroleum Institute of Pakistan (PIP) here on Monday.

He said that the government had already notified polices related to tight gas and low BTU gas but results of this venture would be visible in the coming years, as both these areas require specialised technical expertise to explore such gas reserves.

However, regarding margin and standard gas fields, Dr Asim said that the policy to harness gas from this area would be finalised soon.

The margin fields have limited and small gas reserves that are not economically viable for large E&P companies.

“This policy would also help encourage smaller companies, possibly the local ones, to enter the upstream sector,” the advisor said.

Highlighting, the petroleum policy 2012, the advisor said that due to higher incentives being offered in the policy around 750 mmcfd gas is likely to be added in the system by June 2013, that is an increase of 20 per cent in the existing flow.

He also called upon the exploration and production companies operating in Pakistan to support the PIP and to help develop it into a think-tank for policy initiatives for the oil and gas sector. Dr Asim Hussain said that Pakistan offers great potential in the oil and gas sector and the government was introducing new policies to meet the rising energy demand.

The participants were informed that oil ad gas sector offers huge potential for investment in Pakistan, due to rising demand. It was stated that the country imported oil to the tune of $15 billion which constituted around 36 per cent of the overall import bill of the country, while value of gas produced in the country is worth $4.3 billion and oil $2.4 billion.

The seminar was informed that 1.6 million consumers have been given gas connections at a cost of Rs10.41 billion in the past four years, while 879km of transmission lines and 39,707km of distribution and service lines were added to gas network with an investment of Rs61.164 billion in the era of the incumbent government.

In his concluding remarks, PIP Chairman Asim Murtaza stated that the PIP would conduct a series of seminars in the next couple of months on topics of “Shale Gas potential in Pakistan”, “Fast Tracking LNG Imports” and “LPG Outlook in Pakistan.”