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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Pakistan
Index
From 1947 to the early 1990s, the economy made
considerable
progress in the transformation from a wood-burning base to
modern
energy sources. The process remains incomplete. Bagasse
(the
woody residue left over from crushed sugarcane), dung, and
firewood furnished about 32 percent of all energy in FY
1988.
Some localities had been denuded of firewood, forcing the
local
population to use commercial energy sources, such as
kerosene or
charcoal. Domestic sources of commercial energy accounted
for 77
percent of all commercial energy in FY 1990. The major
domestic
energy resources are natural gas, oil, and hydroelectric
power.
The remainder of energy requirements are met by imports of
oil
and oil products.
Crude oil production increased sharply in the 1980s,
from
almost 4.0 million barrels in FY 1982 to 22.4 million
barrels in
FY 1992. This increase was the result of the discovery and
development of new oil fields. Despite this expanded
production,
however, about 28 million barrels of crude oil were
imported
annually in the early 1990s. The production from domestic
oil
refineries also rose in the 1980s, reaching 42 million
barrels
annually in the early 1990s. However, oil products imports
accounted for about 30 percent of the value of all oil
imports.
Pakistan vigorously pursued oil exploration in the
1980s and
early 1990s and made a number of new discoveries. In the
early
1990s, the most productive oil field was at Dhurnal in
Punjab,
accounting for 21 percent of total output in FY 1993. The
Badin
area in southern Sindh was the site of a number of
discoveries in
the 1980s, and its proportion of total output has
continued to
increase over the years. In the early 1990s, more
favorable terms
on pricing and repatriation of profits stimulated the
interest of
foreign oil companies. About twenty foreign companies are
engaged
in oil exploration, but poor security for workers and
property in
remote areas of Balochistan and Sindh remains a
significant
constraint on foreign investment.
The large Sui natural gas field in Balochistan was
discovered
after independence. Production at Sui began in 1955 and
peaked in
1985. In the early 1990s, it remained the nation's most
productive gas field, accounting for 46 percent of
production in
FY 1993. The second largest gas field, also located in
Balochistan at Mari, accounted for 20 percent of all
production.
Twenty-five gas fields were operational in FY 1993.
Natural gas
recoverable reserves were estimated at 662.0 billion cubic
meters, with an extraction rate in the early 1990s of
around 14.0
billion cubic meters, up from 9.3 billion cubic meters in
FY 1982
and 1.3 billion cubic meters in FY 1970.
Natural gas pipelines, in which the government owns
controlling shares, link the Sui gas field and a few
others to
the main population centers and the major crude oil
production
areas. The southern pipeline leads from Sui to Hyderabad
and
Karachi, and a spur supplies Quetta. The northern pipeline
branches at Faisalabad. One branch goes a little farther
north of
Lahore; the other branch is connected to the crude oil
fields and
supplies gas to Islamabad and Peshawar. There are plans
for a new
gas pipeline through which Iran would export natural gas
to
Pakistan.
Coal reserves were boosted substantially in May 1992
when a
large coal field was discovered in the Thar Desert in
Sindh. In
early 1993, these reserves were estimated at 17 billion
tons.
However, much of Pakistan's coal has a low calorific value
and a
high ash and sulfur content, which limits its value.
Output was
1.3 million tons in FY 1992, down from 1.8 million tons in
FY
1982. The bulk of production is from small, privately
owned mines
whose owners generally lack funds, expertise, and interest
in
expanding output. A public-sector firm, the Pakistan
Mineral
Development Corporation, accounted for about one-fifth of
output
in the early 1990s. The corporation has six operational
mines--at
Degari, Sor Range, and Sharigh in Balochistan; Lakhra and
Meting
in Sindh; and at the Makerwal/Gullakhel complex straddling
the
border between Punjab and the North-West Frontier
Province.
Hydroelectric power is an important domestic primary
energy
resource, and hydroelectric potential is estimated at
around
10,000 megawatts. A large number of additional sites with
major
potential exist in the mountainous north, but the
difficulty of
access and the high cost of transmission to the populous
south
make development a distant prospect. A large proportion of
hydrogenerators are located at two large multipurpose
dams. The
Tarbela Dam located on the Indus River in the North-West
Frontier
Province has an installed capacity of 2,164 megawatts, and
the
Mangla Dam situated on the Jhelum River in Azad Kashmir
has an
installed capacity of 800 megawatts.
In 1965 Pakistani officials contracted with the
Canadian
government for the supply of a 125-megawatt pressurized,
heavy-water nuclear reactor, which in 1972 became
operational
near Karachi. This was Pakistan's only nuclear power plant
in
1994, and its operating record is poor. In 1983 plans for
a
nuclear plant at Chashma, on the Indus River in Punjab,
about 240
kilometers south of Islamabad, were announced. The
construction
of this plant was delayed, in part because of the
reluctance of
foreign governments to supply needed fuel and technology
because
of concern over possible military use of the atomic energy
program. In 1993 Pakistani officials expected the plant to
open
in 1997 with a capacity of 300 megawatts. China is
providing the
necessary technology and materials for the Chashma plant.
Pakistani officials expect that fuel for the plant will be
provided by the uranium enrichment plant at Kahuta near
Islamabad. Some observers, however, believe it is unlikely
that
the plant will be ready in 1997.
In FY 1992, the country had a total installed
generating
capacity of 9,293 megawatts, of which approximately 62.7
percent
was thermal, 35.9 percent hydroelectric, and 1.5 percent
nuclear.
In FY 1991, industry consumed 34.2 of percent of
electricity,
households 31.7 percent, agriculture 21.4 percent,
commercial
businesses 4.3 percent, and other users 8.3 percent. A
rural
electrification program increased the number of villages
having
electricity from around 14,000 in FY 1983 to nearly 41,000
in FY
1992, leaving only about 5,000 villages without
electricity.
After the late 1970s, considerable improvement was made in
transmission facilities. By 1983 a grid connected
generators and
urban centers of the more populous areas, largely in
Punjab and
Sindh. Installations of high-voltage transmission lines
and other
facilities helped reduce power losses. Nonetheless, in
1993 the
World Bank estimated that 28 percent of electricity
generated in
Pakistan was diverted illegally in transmission and
distribution,
and even the government puts this figure at 12 percent.
In 1993 the government planned a rapid increase of
generating
capacity, in part through the expansion of existing
hydroelectric
and thermal units and in part through the construction of
new
plants. Nonetheless, observers expected shortages of
electricity
to continue in the early 1990s and probably longer. In
much of
1993, both urban and rural areas experienced three power
cuts a
day lasting a total of around two hours. Industrial and
commercial users are required to reduce consumption by an
even
greater amount, and they risk being disconnected if they
violate
"agreed-on levels." Peak demand for electricity is
estimated to
exceed the supply by around 30 percent.
In 1991 the power sector was opened to private capital,
both
foreign and domestic. In that year, a World Bank
consortium that
included investors from Britain, Saudi Arabia, and the
United
States agreed to finance a project for a new US$1.3
billion,
1,292 megawatt oil-fired power station at Hub Chowki in
Balochistan, forty-eight kilometers west of Karachi.
Construction
began in September 1992. The consortium is responsible for
the
construction and operation of the power station, while its
output
is sold to the national grid. In 1992 the government
announced
plans to privatize the Water and Power Development
Authority's
thermal plants and area electricity boards, but in 1994
legal and
political obstacles prevented implementation of this
policy.
Some development of renewable energy sources has been
undertaken, primarily for rural areas so isolated they
would not
otherwise have electricity in the foreseeable future. The
aim is
to upgrade village life while lowering urban migration,
reducing
reliance on firewood, and providing power to pump water
for
irrigation where possible. For example, a small
family-owned
biogas plant uses human and animal waste (from three or
four
water buffalo, for example) to produce around 2.8 to 4.2
cubic
meters of gas a day for heating and lighting. Larger
biogas
plants serve a number of homes or a village. Construction
costs
are too high for most villagers unless the government
underwrites
installation.
Data as of April 1994
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