Govt to utilise energy potential thru oil, gas exploration: PM

[Omar1984]

Govt to utilise energy potential thru oil, gas exploration: PM
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ISLAMABAD (APP) - Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani said Wednesday government accords high priority to investment in the oil and gas sectors, and assured foreign investors effective security conditions and an enabling environment.

Addressing a ceremony here at the PM Secretariat to mark the inauguration of a central processing facility set up at Manzalai in NWFP, the Prime Minister said there was a need to focus and develop oil and gas reserves in Pakistan as the country currently has to rely on expensive imported energy.

“Our government has given high priority to investment in the oil and gas sector,” Gilani said.

He said the new petroleum policy announced earlier this year reflects desire of the government to encourage foreign investors in the energy sector.

“We realize that in order to make this sector attractive for the foreign companies, we have to increase the competitiveness of our terms of investment in the upstream sector.” Prime Minister Gilani said today Pakistan was faced with many challenges caused by both external as well as internal factors.

“But I assure you that the government is fully committed to handle these issues and provide security to the areas where key strategic assets like gas fields and plants are located.” “We have a responsibility to provide foreign investment a secure environment, enabling them to take full benefit of government’s investor-friendly policies,” the prime minister said.

Prime Minister Gilani said production from the Manzalai Central Processing Facility will help the NWFP government receive more gas royalty. He said it will boost their resources, allowing them to spend more on the social sector.

He hoped the NWFP government will undertake more initiatives to invest this money back into the area from where oil and gas was being produced.

Gilani termed the inauguration of the Manzalai Central Processing Facility as a “very important step towards energy self sufficiency” and expressed the hope that with the start of supply from this facility, the national transmission system of natural gas will get a big boost.

He expressed the confidence that start of production activities in the relatively less developed areas of NWFP will open up new opportunities for the local communities to benefit from this economic activity. This will help the areas to become part of the organized economy of the country.

He said injection of natural gas supply in the national system from a field in the NWFP will mean lower transmission costs to the north of the country.

He expressed satisfaction that the operators of Tal Block Joint Venture have employed a large number of locals in their project.

“I always believe that Pakistan is blessed with a capable human resource pool. If given an opportunity, they can show their worth and help the foreign companies working here to achieve their business objectives,” he added.

Prime Minister Gilani also appreciated that the joint venture partners had initiated some important social uplift projects in the area and hoped that they would invest more in the area.

Gilani noted that MOL Pakistan, as the operator of a joint venture, has worked in an area that may appear volatile to many, but their success will encourage other foreign companies to come forward and invest in other sectors in Pakistan, thus generating economic activity and creating employment opportunities.

“We also intend to improve the economic climate in the NWFP by launching new infrastructure projects,” the prime minister said.

He said the construction of a new bridge on the Indus river to relieve the pressure on the existing Khushal Garh bridge was of prime importance. This will enhance accessibility of NWFP to other parts of Pakistan, he added.

He congratulated the MOL Group and its partners OGDCL, PPL, GHPL and POL Tal Joint Venture partners and expressed the hope that they would continue investing in the energy sector of Pakistan.

“I assure that the present government will extend full support to the investors entering into joint venture in this sector. We look forward and expect more similar initiatives in the near future,” the prime minister said.

Federal Minister for Petroleum Syed Naveed Qamar said the exploration of natural gas would help the country overcome its energy challenges.

He said the government was fully cognizant of utilizing the potential of energy resources in the country and would encourage foreign investors in this regard.

CEO MOL Group Gyorgy Monsonyi said the inauguration of new gas facility was the fruits of well-coordinated efforts that would bring development in the country.

Ambassador of Hungary Istvan Darvasi said the government of Hungary was ready to extend potential support to Pakistan in carrying out work on energy.

He appreciated Pakistan’s role in fight against terrorism and efforts for democratic transition.

The event was also attended by Chief Minister NWFP Ameer Haider Khan Hoti and parliamentarians.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday said the government was committed to ensuring a “foolproof security environment” for foreign investors in Pakistan.

Talking to a Hungarian delegation led by Gyorgy Mosonyi, CEO, MOL Group here at the PM Secretariat, he said the government was encouraging them to invest more in the energy sector.

He said the new petroleum policy announced earlier this year reflects the government’s desire to encourage foreign investors in the energy sector and various incentives are being given to both local and foreign investors to benefit from the investor-friendly policies of the government.

The Prime Minister said that Pakistan is blessed with immense energy resources including coal and hydel power. He lauded the contribution of MOL Group in the exploration and production of hydrocarbons in Pakistan and congratulated them on the inauguration of Manzalai CPF facility.

The delegation informed the Prime Minister that they plan to invest more in the exploration and production of energy in Pakistan.

They also said that they have employed a large number of local people in the Manzalai project.

 

[Omar1984]

MOL Pakistan to start drilling activity in North Margalla block
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ISLAMABAD: Oil and Gas exploration and production company, MOL Pakistan here on Wednesday announced carrying out drilling activity in North Margalla block from first week of next year and hinted the chances of discovering oil reserves from this block.

Geophysical, GNG and seismic studies have been completed in the block and it would add to the major new activities to be carried by the company in Pakistan.

Gyorgy Mosonyi, CEO MOL group along with Janos Feher, Managing Director and CEO MOL Pakistan, informed a media briefing that supply of 250 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) gas and 4,280 barrels crude oil per day has started from the Manzalai field.

Manzalai fields are located in Tal Block in NWFP and Gyorgy Mosonyi, CEO MOL group, said that gas production from Manzalai would reach 300 MMCFD by 2013.

Addressing a press conference Mosonyi said that gas supplies from Manzalai have started to the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines limited.

He said that Pakistan was among the top five key operational centres of MOL, which is a Netherlands based Hungarian oil and gas company.

Mosonyi told media that Tal block is a joint venture of five oil and gas exploration companies.

He said that Petroleum Concession Agreement (PCA) of Tal block was signed in February 1999, as an exploration block. Prior to MOL Amoco and the OGDCL failed to make any discovery in the Tal block and they abandoned it. According to the PCA, MOL Pakistan became the operator of the block with 35 percent shares in Tal block, the other joint venture partners are OGDCL with 30 percent shares, Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) with 30 percent and Government Holdings Private Limited (GHPL) with 5 percent shares.

Mr Mosonyi said that during the past 10 years MOL has invested $500 million in Tal block to make four successive discoveries.

“Our operation in Tal is one of the greatest successes of MOL in the international upstream,” he said adding that the Manzalai field has one of the largest gas reserves in Northern Pakistan that is around 1.88 Trillion Cubic Feet.

MOL is a leading international, integrated oil and gas company, its headquarter is Budapest, Hungary.

MOL owns 5 highly complex refineries in Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia and Italy having refinery capacity of 23.5 million tons per annum and the Group operates over 1,500 filling stations in Europe and a more than 5,000 km long high pressure natural gas pipeline network in Hungary. The group is also active in petrochemical and gas storage business in Europe.

However, replying to a question the Group CEO, MOL said that they have no plans to enter the mid-stream or down-stream sectors in Pakistan.

“But we will continue to expand the exploration activities in the country,” Mr Mosonyi said. Meanwhile, Janos Feher, managing director MOL Pakistan, who is also the chairman Pakistan Exploration and Production Companies Association, expressed satisfaction over the Petroleum policy 2009.

“The policy offers higher incentives for the oil and gas companies and more allocations would be made for the development of local area where activities are conducted,” Feher said. “We expect that major international exploration companies would enter Pakistani market by the mid of 2010,” he added.

He also said that negative perception is a major issue for Pakistan and expressed confidence that this would subside in next six months.

However, he acknowledged that the petroleum policy 2009 lack mechanism to resolve dispute between the exploration company and the Ministry of Petroleum.

 

[Omar1984]

PM inaugurates Karak gas field
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Thursday, November 12, 2009
By By our correspondent

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday said the government was giving top priority to overcoming the energy crisis and it was committed to extending all possible support to foreign investors to accelerate oil and gas exploration.

“I assure you that the present government will extend full support to the investors entering into joint ventures in this sector,” he said while addressing the inaugural ceremony of the Manzalai Central Processing Facility (Karak) at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat here on Wednesday.

NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti specially came from Peshawar for the inaugural ceremony of the Manzalai Central Processing Facility (Karak) at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat. The facility is a joint venture of MOL group, OGDCL, PPL, POL and the government holding company.

The PM said Pakistan was blessed with vast natural resources but unfortunately these had not yet been harnessed and the present government would extend all possible help to investors to harness these resources to make the country self-sufficient in energy.

He said that although there were enormous challenges ahead including the threat of terrorism but the government would take all measures to provide security to foreign investors in the oil and gas sector.

He said the government had given a number of incentives to foreign investors in the petroleum sector to move towards self-sufficiency. The prime minister said that the government also intended to improve the economic climate in the NWFP by launching new infrastructure projects.

He was of the view that the construction of a new bridge on the Indus River to relieve pressure on the existing Khushhalgarh Bridge was of prime importance. “This will enhance accessibility of the eNWFP to other parts of Pakistan,” he added.

The prime minister appreciated MOL Pakistan for enhanced investment in oil and gas sector and expressed the confidence that other foreign investors would also come to Pakistan for investment in this sector that would help give a boost to the national economy besides generating employment opportunities for the people.

He expressed gratitude to the Hungarian prime minister for supporting the government in its efforts to curb terrorism. He hoped that more Hungarian companies would come to Pakistan. In a message read by the Hungarian ambassador, the Hungarian prime minister appreciated the Pakistani government for taking measures to eliminate terrorism from the country.

He said that cooperation between the two countries will further expand in the coming times. Minister for Petroleum Syed Naveed Qamar in his remarks said that the facility will produce 100 MMCFD compressed gas daily that will be enhanced up to 250 MMCFD at a later stage.

 

[Omar1984]

MOL begins supply from Manzalai field
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ISLAMABAD: MOL Pakistan, the operator of the Tal block in NWFP, on Wednesday announced that it had started supply of 250 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) gas and 4,280 barrels crude oil per day from the Manzalai field.

MOL Group Gyorgy Mosonyi addressing a press conference said that gas supplies from the Manzalai field had started to Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited. ‘Gas production from the field will reach 300 mmcfd by 2013,’ he added.

Manzalai field is located in Karak and Hangu districts of the NWFP.

He said that Pakistan was among the top five key operational centres of MOL, the Netherlands based Hungarian oil and gas giant.

Mr Mosonyi told media that Tal block was a joint venture of five oil and gas exploration companies.

He said that Petroleum Concession Agreement (PCA) of Tal block was signed in February 1999 as an exploration block.

Prior to MOL Amoco and the OGDCL failed to make any discovery in the Tal block and they abandoned it.

According to the PCA, MOL Pakistan became the operator of the block with 35 per cent shares in Tal block, the other joint venture partners are OGDCL with 30 per cent shares, Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) with 30 per cent and Government Holdings Private Limited (GHPL) with 5 per cent shares.

 

[Omar1984]

Three oil refining companies to boost capacity
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ISLAMABAD: Three more oil refining companies would be established with their total capacity of refining crude of 465,000 barrels per day (bpd) to enhance the existing quantity produced by seven companies.

Khalifa Coastal Refinery, with its production capacity of 250,000 bpd, Bosicor Oil Pakistan Ltd. with a capacity of 115,000 bpd and Trans-Asia Refinery with 100,000 barrels would add their respective share to enhance total production that currently stands at 248,506 bpd.

Of these three refineries, Trans-Asia would be established at Port Qasim while the other two would be established in Balochistan.

After the establishment of these companies the country’s refining capacity would reach upto 713,506 bpd, it was officially learnt on Thursday.

So far, seven refineries are operating currently in the country, having the capacity to refine 248,506 bpd.

These companies are: Pak-Arab Refinery Ltd. (100,00 bpd) National Refinery Ltd (62050 bpd) Pakistan Refinery Ltd. (47,110 bpd) Attock Refinery (42,000 bpd) Bosicor Refinery Ltd. (30,000) Dhodak Refinery Ltd. (2500 bpd) and Enar Petrotech Services Ltd. (2646 bpd).

Incentives given by the government to attract investment in the mid-stream petroleum sectors include linking of Singapore mean FOB spot prior parity formula for the new refineries.

The refineries are free to sell their products to any oil marketing company, and are allowed to establish their own OMC.

No prior permission was required for setting up of new refinery, and the government has granted 20 years tax holiday to any large refinery with minimum of 100,000 bpd capacity at the coastal belt of Balochistan. —APP

 

[Omar1984]

Govt determined to keep developing oil, gas sector: President
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ISLAMABAD, Nov 13 (APP): President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday said that Government is determined to keep upgrading and developing oil and gas sector in the country.He was talking to a delegation of MOL Group headed by its CEO Gy”rgy Mosonyi, which called on him at the President House.The President said that Government is taking keen interest in creating opportunities for private investment in the country especially in the sectors that have direct bearings on the social uplift of the people.The President congratulated the MOL group on inauguration of Manzalai Central Processing Facility in Karak.

Gy”rgy Mosonyi thanked the President for meeting the delegation and said that Pakistan is one of their core focus areas for exploration activities.

He also thanked the federal and the provincial governments for the support being extended to their organization.