Commercial production from Thar Coal mines by 2012
ISLAMABAD (August 26 2007): The Petroleum Ministry is all set to start commercial production of Thar Coal mines by 2012 under a roadmap approved by President Pervez Musharraf, a senior official of the ministry said.
"Commercial production from Thar Coal mines will be started in 2012 that would greatly help enhance the coal share in overall energy mix in the country," Director General, Mineral, Irshad Ali Khokhar said on Saturday.
Under the roadmap advanced hydrological studies would be undertaken before test-pit digging to make foreign investors realise that besides 120 meters deep sand bed the commercial production of coal was possible in Thar.
He said that generation of power from furnace oil would be too expensive for industry and domestic use, so the government had planned to develop indigenous coal resources for energy security of country. The Energy Security Action Plan elucidated the target of 20,000 MW electricity from coal by 2019.
The Sindh government being major shareholder of coal resources is endeavouring to attract international investment for development of Thar Coal resources in consultation with PPIB. The Director General said Pakistan imports its primary energy requirements incurring an expenditure of about dollar Rs 4 billion dollar annually.
He said the natural gas contributing 50.3 per cent and oil 29.4 per cent in overall energy mix, at present has some how mitigated high import bill, whereas coal contribution is 7.6 per cent only.
Furthermore, with present growth rate of 7 per cent the country would require additional power of 10,000 MW by 2010, due to long gestation period coupled with high financial costs, he said.
Total estimated coal resources of Pakistan are about 185 billion tonnes, which mainly include resources of 175 billion tonnes at Thar in Sindh. Owing to large coal potential, Thar Coal could be developed as large source of energy. The Thar Coal reserves are the fifth largest in the world and would reach maximum production capacity by the end of 2020.
Based on available infrastructure and favourable geological parameters, the Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP) evaluated the resources over an area of 352 sq km.
Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]
ISLAMABAD (August 26 2007): The Petroleum Ministry is all set to start commercial production of Thar Coal mines by 2012 under a roadmap approved by President Pervez Musharraf, a senior official of the ministry said.
"Commercial production from Thar Coal mines will be started in 2012 that would greatly help enhance the coal share in overall energy mix in the country," Director General, Mineral, Irshad Ali Khokhar said on Saturday.
Under the roadmap advanced hydrological studies would be undertaken before test-pit digging to make foreign investors realise that besides 120 meters deep sand bed the commercial production of coal was possible in Thar.
He said that generation of power from furnace oil would be too expensive for industry and domestic use, so the government had planned to develop indigenous coal resources for energy security of country. The Energy Security Action Plan elucidated the target of 20,000 MW electricity from coal by 2019.
The Sindh government being major shareholder of coal resources is endeavouring to attract international investment for development of Thar Coal resources in consultation with PPIB. The Director General said Pakistan imports its primary energy requirements incurring an expenditure of about dollar Rs 4 billion dollar annually.
He said the natural gas contributing 50.3 per cent and oil 29.4 per cent in overall energy mix, at present has some how mitigated high import bill, whereas coal contribution is 7.6 per cent only.
Furthermore, with present growth rate of 7 per cent the country would require additional power of 10,000 MW by 2010, due to long gestation period coupled with high financial costs, he said.
Total estimated coal resources of Pakistan are about 185 billion tonnes, which mainly include resources of 175 billion tonnes at Thar in Sindh. Owing to large coal potential, Thar Coal could be developed as large source of energy. The Thar Coal reserves are the fifth largest in the world and would reach maximum production capacity by the end of 2020.
Based on available infrastructure and favourable geological parameters, the Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP) evaluated the resources over an area of 352 sq km.
Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]