Panama Has an Estimated 900 Million Barrels of Oil in Two Basins

- Panama Has an Estimated 900 Million Barrels of Oil in Two Basins

Monday, September 05, 2011
OilPrice.com
by Joao Peixe

Panama’s National Energy Secretariat has announced that 900 million barrels of oil have been detected at two basins in eastern Panama, representing a potential contribution to the Panamanian Treasury of $15 billion dollars over the next two decades at current oil prices.

Panamanian Energy Secretary Juan Manuel Urriola said that the Venezuelan firm OTS conducted the geological survey and detected the oil reserves in Panama’s Garachine-Sambu and Bayano-Chucunaque-Atrato basins in Darien province, which borders Colombia.

While the quality of the deposits’ oil has yet to be determined Urriola estimated their “commercial potential” at roughly $15 billion in taxes and royalties, based on OTS projected estimate of a per-barrel price of 100 dollars over the next 20 years, MercoPress news agency reported.

OTS recommended that in the bidding process the exploratory areas in the Garachine-Sambu and Bayano-Chucunaque-Atrato basins be divided into four geographical blocks per basin.

Urriola added that a bidding process for exploration rights and for determining the deposits’ quality and volume would begin before the end of the year.

Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli is promoting oil exploration because of Panama’s need to have its own indigenous energy resources in order to reduce the country’s dependence on oil imports, where recent high costs have caused local fuel prices to soar.

(Joao Peixe is a Deputy Editor OilPrice.com. The full article appears here.)

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SSGC: Pakistan's Estimated Gas Reserves Higher Than Expected

- SSGC: Pakistan's Estimated Gas Reserves Higher Than Expected

Monday, May 23, 2011
Asia Pulse Pte Ltd.

Pakistan holds an estimated 33 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of tight-gas reserves, higher than the existing estimated 27 tcf in the country, said the deputy managing director of operations of Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) Syed Hassan Nawab.

Nawab made the comment addressing the 7th International POGEE Conference 2011 for Oil and Gas and Energy Industry at the Karachi Expo Center on Wednesday. Joint Secretary Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources Raashid Bashir Maser was the chairman of the session.

Referring to a report of Pakistan Petroleum Exploration and Production Companies Association (PPEPCA), Nawab said the country will have sufficient natural gas if tight gas is explored with the help of advanced technology. He pointed out that the government has prepared the draft policy for tight gas and it is currently with the Council of Common Interest (CCI) and this will be approved soon.

Quoting some of the incentives in the draft tight gas policy, he said that investors will be offered 40 percent premium on the current gas price for exploring tight gas. Similarly, 50 percent premium will be offered on current gas price to investors if they commission their project by December 2011.

Hassan Nawab said that Pakistan can also produce gas from Thar coal with the help of underground coal gasification (UCG) technology. There is a potential to produce 35 tcf of coalbed methane from Thar coal, he noted.

He said that the availability of natural gas can be enhanced through import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from neighboring countries like Qatar and Iran-through 3rd party arrangements. He said the country has a very large network of pipelines and the importer of LNG can pump this gas to their buyers in upcountry destinations.

(C) 2011 Asia Pulse Pte Ltd.

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