ICCI urges Pakistan government to evolve strategy for coal reserves: Steel Guru

The Frontier Post reported that Mian Shaukat Masud president and Mr Muhammad Ishtiaq Qureshi VP of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry has called upon the Pakistan government to evolve a comprehensive strategy to exploit the indigenous coal reserves for generating cheap and dependable energy.

They said that it is really pitiable that despite having total coal reserves of over 185 billion tonnes and being the 6 largest coal rich country in the world, Pakistan is still an energy deficit country which showed our lack of planning and foresight to safeguard country's interests.

Mian Shaukat Masud said that Pakistan is spending about 60% to 65% of its total foreign export earnings on oil imports despite having an aggregate energy potential exceeding the combined energy potential of the entire resources of Saudi Arabia and Iran, which was really deplorable.

He said that “a World Bank draft report on Pakistan's Investment Climate has portrayed a dismal picture of the country's power sector that is riddled with inefficiency and corruption, though the sector was selling electricity to consumers at a rate that is 60% higher than in India and 40% higher than in Bangladesh. Frequent power outages, totaling 945 hours in a year, led to pushing up the cost of production in the form of forced overtime, waste of material, damaged equipment and an added maintenance average of 10 percent of annual sales for manufacturing sector which badly dented their profitability. He added that higher tariff charged in the country has not only hit productivity in all sectors of the economy, it has also eroded competitiveness of our exports.”

For more on this article, please click on the following link: ICCI urges Pakistan government to evolve strategy for coal reserves: Steel Guru

Pakistan has 326m barrels in oil reserves, Senate informed: Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has more than 326 million barrels of oil and 29,790 billion cubic feet of gas reserves, the Senate was told on Wednesday. The petroleum adviser said the country had 185,165 million tonnes of coal reserves, mainly in Sindh. The demand for oil is 19.2 million tonnes a year and that for gas 5.3 million cubic feet a day. He also said there were approximately 4,504 million tonnes of copper-gold resources in Reko Diq in Balochistan, and there are 292 employees working on the project including, 247 local people. Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan told the House that out of the $5.9 billion assistance for October 2005 earthquake victims committed by donors, $3.41 billion have been disbursed and the remaining $2.5 billion are in the pipeline. More than Rs 89 billion have been paid as compensation to the earthquake victims – Rs 57 billion in rural housing subsidy, Rs 2.86 billion in urban housing subsidy, Rs 5.2 billion in the Livelihood Support Cash Grant Programme and Rs 13.2 billion as compensation for deaths and injuries.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan has 326m barrels in oil reserves, Senate informed: Daily Times

$25 trillion Thar coal reservation Fate of Pakistan could be changed: PEW F.P. Report: The Frontier Post

Islamabad: Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) has said that the coal deposits in Thar can change the fate of Pakistan if utilized in a proper way. It can save oil import bill, reduce unemployment and help strengthen economy, rupee and forex stocks. In a statement issued here Monday, Dr. Murtaza Mughal, President of Pakistan Economy Watch said that 185 billion tones of coal worth 25 trillion dollars can not only cater for electricity requirements of whole country for next 100 years but also save almost four billion dollars in staggering oil import bill. "The project which is in limbo since a decade can help thousands of households by providing employment and help save oil import bill by $4-4.50 billion and help forex reserves to swell. It will also stabilize sliding rupee," he said. He said the coal power generation will cost Pakistan 5.67 rupees per unit while power generated by Independent Power Projects cost Rs 9.27. There is a remarkable difference that will certainly life economy of the country and will provide a break to poor. Dr. Murtaza Mughal said that the German, Chinese and other companies have not only carried out surveys and fusibilities of this project but also offered 100 percent investment in last 7-8 years but the petroleum barons always discouraged them in a very systematic way. He demanded a probe into the matter as some elements deprived people of Pakistan from cheap source of energy for too long in their own interest.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: $25 trillion Thar coal reservation Fate of Pakistan could be changed: PEW F.P. Report: The Frontier Post