Massive Coal reserves in Pakistan

[Maulik]

http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=16401

Karachi—PPP Senator Gul Mohammed Lot has said that out of total 1.47 trillion tons of coal reserves in the world. Talking to a delegation of Thari notables at Lot House,he said the highest share is wih the US with 274 billion tons while Pakistan is regarded as a country with second biggest reserves of 185 billions tons out of which it hardly produces 40 million tons a year. Senator said that neighbouring country had lower coal reserves than Pakistan, still we produce only 10 percent of coal in comparison to them.

He said the present governemnt was making every effort to increase the capability for higher coal production.

He said according to a report, if our coal production was brought equal to that of India, then Pakistan could earn 8 billion dollars annually by producing 5 lac barel diesel daily, 4 billion cubic feet of gas, 90 million tons of fertilizer annually, 3.7 million barrel manthole annually and 8.5 million barrel Mitha anually. He said with that revenue, not only Sindh but people of Pakistan could be made economically stable.

The Senator pointed out that a country like India fulfils 54 percent of industrial requirement and Veitnam produces 41 percent electricity from coal and if that natural resource in Pakistan was utilised with an immaculate planning and its economy grows at just 7 percent, then its GDP could go up from 167 billion dollars to 10 trillion dollars in the next 50 years.

Gul Mohammed Lot said that with existing coal reserves, the country could meet the requirements of six power stations of 1000 MW for the next 30-50 years.—APP

[Maulik]

Test burn at Thar coal gasification project on 19th | Newspaper | DAWN.COM

ISLAMABAD: The first test burn at the underground coal gasification (UCG) project in Tharparkar will be carried out on September 19 in the presence of four experts from Uzbekistan.

The chairman of the project, Dr Samar Mubarakmand, told the National Assembly’s standing committee on petroleum and natural resources at its meeting here on Tuesday that although his team of scientists and engineers had expertise in metallurgy, mining, testing, blasting and other relevant fields, the Uzbek experts had been invited to oversee and ensure success of the test burn.

He said Uzbekistan was successfully operating a UCG project near Tashkent.

He said the Thar project would start producing 100MW electricity from December 2013 and its capacity would be gradually increased. “If the project is successful it will produce electricity at Rs2 per unit.”

The committee was informed that the total cost of the project was $115 million. An amount of $9.2 million was released in 2010-11 and $8 million allocated for the current fiscal year.

Dr Mubarakmand said civil works, installation of compressors and gasifier had been completed, adding that the process involved over 36,000 feet of drilling and 18,000 feet of steel-casing.

However, Sindh Coal and Energy Secretary Muhammad Younis Dagha said there was no technical study or verification of the claims made by Dr Mubarakmand. He said the UCG projects launched in Australia and the United States had been shut down. Besides, Chinese and Uzbeks are not producing electricity from their UCG projects.

“There are also chances of severe underground water pollution.” The committee chairman Talib Hussain Nakai asked Dr Mubarakmand to clarify the points raised by Mr Dagha.

Dr Mubarakmand said water in Thar was very saline and unusable for any purpose. Besides, he added, there was a 35-metre solid rock layer between water and the coal-bed.

Officials of the Geological Survey of Pakistan said if the UCG pilot project succeeded it could be taken up in nine other areas of the country.

The committee was informed that projects relating to mining and electricity generation from coal would not be shelved even if the UCG project succeeded.

The committee was informed that Block-I had been allocated to the Chinese Global Mining (CMG) company which planned to mine five million tons of coalfield a year to produce 900MW of electricity, to be gradually increased to 2,100MW.

Australian Continental Energy had submitted a proposal for mining six million tons of coal annually and increasing it to 18 million tons. The company intends to generate 1,100MW in five years, 2,000MW in 10 years and 3,000MW in 15 years.

Despite concerns expressed by Nawab Yousuf Talpur over the project, the committee gave a go-ahead to the UCG pilot project.

[Maulik]

this coal is enough to last Pakistan for 200 yrs to fulfill energy needs. if they carry out gasification of these coal reserves, then it will definitely solve electricity crisis/load shedding problems of Pakistan

[retro]

this coal is enough to last Pakistan for 200 yrs to fulfill energy needs. if they carry out gasification of these coal reserves, then it will definitely solve electricity crisis/load shedding problems of Pakistan

Coal is not the way to go and it will kill your river systems. Look at China 50% of their fresh water is undrinkable and the place is covered in smog.