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KARACHI: Tharparkar’s underground coal gasification project is facing delays and the deadline for completion of the project may further be extended as pledged funds have not yet been received from the provincial and federal governments.
The Sindh government is yet to release Rs200 million while the centre is to transfer Rs5 billion for purchasing power engines and other equipment.
Sources said that President Asif Ali Zardari has taken notice of delay in the release of funds and would review the project’s progress shortly.
The government plans to purchase engines of 1.5MW each to use the gas for generating power and the project was expected to generate at least 100MW by mid-next year.
Overall, $1.2 billion funds are required for the proposed 84 gasifiers and its financial feasibility report had been sent to the government.
Pakistan is enriched with huge deposits of untapped coal reserves in Sindh to attain self-sufficiency in power production and different energy needs, including industrial and domestic gas and automobile fuels.
Sources said Block-5 (64sq km) of Thar allocated for gasification project could meet the energy demands of the country for over 30-35 years as it has reserves of 1.4 billion tons.The country can easily meet the expected demands of around 2200 mmcft by 2015 through the project with an investment of merely $1.2 billion.
The UCG project at Tharparker started under the supervision of Dr Samar Mubarakmand and was successfully producing gas.
The first test-burn at the underground coal gasification project was carried out in December 2011 after completing the first gasifier and civil works with the availability of $9.22 million funds. The completion of a gasifier also involves over 36,000 feet of drilling and 18,000 feet of steel-casing and other engineering works.
The pilot project in the first phase was initially aimed at generating gas for producing 100MW by next year, and is now being planned to be extended from approved 18 to 84 gasifiers.
According to an estimate, a gasifier could easily produce the required gas for at least 10 years. The project ensures immediate supply of gas besides power generated by the underground gasification would be much cheaper.
The electricity generated through the process would be available at $16 per MW as compared to $77 per MW and $69 per MW produced through Integrated Gas Combined Cycle and Natural Gas Combined Cycle, respectively.
The demand of gas in the country is currently 5,500 mmcft as against daily production of 4,000mmcft. There will be a shortfall of 1,500mmcft in 2012 and it may reach 2,200mmcft by 2015.
To meet the expected demand, almost 84 gasifiers were needed to be established at the side as a gasifier was estimated to produce at least 26.5 mmcft gas.
Currently only one gasifier has started producing gas while another 17 units are in the pipeline.
At least 49 to 50 gasifiers would be established in one square km of the Block-5 which was stretched over 64 sq km.
One gasifier was being built at a cost of Rs1.2 billion, making the total cost of 84 units Rs101 billion or $1.12 billion.
