Muhammad Hamza Khan Fuels and Energy Assignment #1 D-17-CH-21

Fuel Resources in Pakistan

Coal:

History:
Coal was first discovered across Pakistan and the rest of South Asia in the 1880s and was used by
the British-owned railway companies under colonial rule. Later, post-colonial Pakistan had used coal to
fuel its industry from independence to the discovery of the Baluchistan's Sui gas field in 1952 and
the Toot oilfield in 1964.
Environmentalists are now concerned that Pakistan has recently discovered 1 low and 4 low to medium
quality coal seams in the Punjab and plans to re-fuel its economically important cement industry with it
after their oil fields have run dry. Low sulfur coal was recently reported to have been found at
the Baluchistan near Quetta as well. There are reports that low a sulfur deposit has been found near
Islamabad.
Sindh's Thar Desert lignite mines will also be expanded soon for industrial usage too. This Thar's mine
is open-cut mine .These mines are relatively safer to mine from. While Baluchistan's mines
are underground mines, these are dangerous to mine from.
Pakistan Baluchistan's mines have seen several accidents over the years among which the one which
happened in 2011 was with the greatest amount of casualties. According to one news paper the death
toll rose up to 45, though majority agree upon that it ranged from 40-45 people.
Special measures are being employed to reduce the resulting fly ash, carbon footprint and sulphur fume
emission problems after it is burnt.

Mining of Coal:
Coal is mined by two methods:

1. Surface mining
2. Underground Mining

Surface Mining:
Surface mining is only economic when the coal seam is near the surface. This method recovers a higher
proportion of the coal deposit than underground mining as all coal seams are exploited - 90% or more of
the coal can be recovered. Large opencast mines can cover an area of many square kilometres and use
very large pieces of equipment, such as draglines, power shovels, large trucks, bucket wheel excavators
and conveyors.

The overburden of soil and rock is first broken up by explosives; it is then removed by draglines or by
shovel and truck. Once the coal seam is exposed, it is drilled, fractured and systematically mined in
strips….
Muhammad Hamza Khan Fuels and Energy Assignment #1 D-17-CH-21

The coal is then loaded on to large trucks or conveyors for transport to either the coal preparation plant
or direct to where it will be used.

Mine Rehabilitation:

Coal mining is only a temporary use of land, so it is vital that rehabilitation of land takes place once
mining operations have stopped. In best practice a detailed rehabilitation or reclamation plan is
designed and approved for each coal mine, covering the period from the start of operations until well
after mining has finished.

Underground Mining:

There are two main methods of underground mining: Room-and-pillar and Longwall mining.

Room-and-pillar mining:

In room-and-pillar mining, coal deposits are mined by cutting a network of 'rooms' into the coal seam
and leaving behind 'pillars' of coal to support the roof of the mine. These pillars can be up to 40% of the
total coal in the seam - although this coal can sometimes be recovered at a later stage.

Longwall mining:

Longwall mining involves the full extraction of coal from a section of the seam, or 'face' using
mechanical shearers. The coal 'face' can vary in length from 100-350m. Self-advancing, hydraulically-
powered supports temporarily hold up the roof while coal is extracted. When coal has been extracted
from the area, the roof is allowed to collapse. Over 75% of the coal in the deposit can be extracted from
panels of coal that can extend 3km through the coal seam.

Technological advancements have made coal mining today more productive than it has ever been. To
keep up with technology and to extract coal as efficiently as possible, modern mining personnel must be
highly skilled and well-trained in the use of complex, state-of-the-art equipment.

The quality of a coal deposit is determined by:

Types of vegetation from which the coal originated

Depths of burial
Temperatures and pressures at those depths
Length of time the coal has been forming in the deposit

Types of coal found:

Bituminous coal is a relatively hard and less sulfurus coal containing a tar-like substance called bitumen
and would be burnt largely on domestic fires after being turned into coke fuel.
Muhammad Hamza Khan Fuels and Energy Assignment #1 D-17-CH-21

Sub-bituminous coal is a coal whose properties range from those of lignite to those of bituminous coal
and is used primarily as fuel for steam-electric power generation.
Lignite is a low-grade, sulfurous coal that is generally used in modified industrial furnaces to generate
heat for boilers, coke oven heaters, brick kilns, etc.

Workings:
Musakhel Balochistan (Kingri-Aram-Safa Coal fields):

 Location- 175 km from Multan and 290 km from Quetta

 Types of Coal- Sub-bituminous to Bituminous and Lignite
 Total Coal Reserves- 17.5 Millions

Lakhara:

 Location-176 km north of Karachi, 65 km northwest of Hyderabad

 Type of Coal-Sub-bituminous to lignite
 Total coal resources- 38.82 million tons
 Production- (2003–04) 217,967 tons
Dengari:

 Location- 35 km south-east of Quetta

 Type of Coal- Sub-bituminous-A to high volatile B-bituminous
 Total coal resources- 15.42 million tones
 Production- (2003–04) 15,043 tons
Sor-range:

 Location - 16 km east of Quetta

 Type of Coal- Sub-bituminous-A to high volatile B-bituminous
 Total coal resources- 12.95 million tones
 Production- (2003–04) 56,132 tons
Nowshera (Shaidu, Khawrai, Pethawo area):

 Oil and gas resources available

Shahrig:

 Coal field location- 160 km north-east of Quetta

 Type of Coal- Sub Bituminous B to heavy volatile Bituminous-A
 Total coal resources- 28.97 million tones
 Production- (2003–04) 94,583 tons
Muhammad Hamza Khan Fuels and Energy Assignment #1 D-17-CH-21

Oil Industry:

Discovery:
Pakistan's first gas field was found in the late 1952 in Balochistan near a giant Sui gas field. The Toot oil
field was not discovered until the early 1960s in the Punjab. The Most Rich resource in Khaur Company
(Attock). It covers 122.67 square kilometres (47.36 sq mi). Pakistan Petroleum and Pakistan
Oilfields explored and began drilling this field with Soviet help in 1961 and activity began in Toot during
1964.

History:
The Toot area is one of the oldest oil producing regions in Pakistan with the first oil well drilled in 1964
when President Ayub Khan encouraged a mineral development policy. It is located in the Pothohar
Plateau, Punjab Province, which is located approximately 135 km southwest of the capital city
of Islamabad. In 1964 the first well was drilled and commercial production started in 1967. There are
about 60 million barrels of oil in place of which 12%-15% is recoverable. At its peak during 1986, the
field was producing approximately 2,400 barrel of oil per day. It has grown steadily since then,
producing both oil and, to a lesser degree, natural gas. Oil production was entirely confined to the
Potwar Plateau till 1981, when Union Texas Pakistan discovered its first oil-field in Lower Sindh. By 1998-
1999, the Lower Sindh gas-fields were producing more oil than the Potohar Plateau. Since then, new
deposits have also been found here.

Modern exploration:
In 2005, the Vancouver-based 'International Sovereign Energy' signed a memorandum of understanding
with the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited, Pakistan's national oil company, to develop the
Toot field. Schlumberger Oilfield Services first started operations in early 2006. After favorable results,
the Vancouver based 'junior oil' and International 'Sovereign Energy Corp'. Oil and gas
exploration companies signed a memorandum of agreement with the Oil and Gas Development
Company Limited, Pakistan's national oil company, in mid-2005, to develop the Toot field in Punjab
Province, near the capital city of Islamabad. The company is also providing electricity to locals living
around the residential camps of Toot oil field and the neighbouring Missa Keswaal oil field.

Extraction of Oil:

Crude oil is found in the depths of the Earth. It is brought to the surface with the aid of sophisticated
machinery and complex processes.

Once a potential accumulation of crude has been discovered, it is analyzed for commercial purposes;
whether the accumulation can be produced profitably or not.

If the accumulations pass the commerciality tests, a hole is drilled into the Earth up to the depth where
the accumulation is situated. This involves the use of a drilling rig, drill bits and various chemicals used
to control the process of drilling. The rig is an assembly of components, and the most important
Muhammad Hamza Khan Fuels and Energy Assignment #1 D-17-CH-21

component is the drill string. This component is actually a combination of various smaller devices and
has a drill bit at the end, which is the tool used to dig into the earth.
During the process of drilling, a chemical mixture called as drilling fluid or mud is circulated through the
drill string into the hole. Its main purposes are:

 To lift the cuttings of rock in the hole and bring these cuttings to the surface.
 Cool the drilling bit and lubricate the drilling pipes being used.
 To prevent the hole from caving in. In areas where there are extreme pressure differences
between the formation/rock layers and the hole, the formation may cave in and close the hole.
This causes a lot of problems for the drilling crew and engineers as well.

Simultaneously while drilling, studies are conducted by geologists to gather data about the sub-surface
characteristics of the region. (Drilling is extremely expensive and geology of each area can be different,
hence the chance is grabbed).

Once the presence of oil and/or gas is verified by studies, the hole is cemented and prepared for
production. Casings of steel are lowered into the hole and cemented in place, to prevent damage to the
surrounding and ensure smooth flow of the oil to the surface.

Once casings and surface facilities are installed, the bottom hole is perforated or punctured. Due to a
pressure difference between the formation and bottom hole, oil will begin flowing from the rocks and
travel to the surface. When oil stops flowing of its own accord, certain techniques are applied to extract
oil from the ground. These techniques are called Improved Oil Recovery (IOR) and Enhanced Oil
Recovery (EOR) techniques. When no more oil can be produced from the well, the hole is closed with
cement and abandoned.

This is the general trend of crude oil extraction. There are very many factors which influence the
extraction of crude oil, but all wells follow the same process stated earlier.
Muhammad Hamza Khan Fuels and Energy Assignment #1 D-17-CH-21

Uranium:

History:
Pakistan has had a long history of exporting small amounts of uranium to the West] The Tumman Leghari
mine in South Punjab, Baghalchur mine, Dera Ghazi Khan mine and Issa Khel / Kubul Kel mines
in Mianwali District. Pakistan has recently used some in its own nuclear power and weapons programs.

Mines:
The Wahi Pandi and Karunuk (Sehwan), mines in the, Kirthar Range, Sindh and the Shanawah
Deposit, Karak in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province are being opened up to meet Pakistan's rising need for
uranium, which these sources are issuing at an ore grade: 0.04% Uranium mineral purity rate.
The Baghalchur site has several abandoned mines and is now being used as an industrial dumping
ground.
Baghalchur is a small town in Dera Ghazi Khan District, Punjab, Pakistan. Baghalchur is the site of
abandoned Uranium mines now being used as a nuclear dump. The residents of the area along with
several Pakistani environmentalist groups are opposed to the nuclear dump being used by Pakistan
Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), and have asked the government to invest in better techniques in the
disposal of nuclear waste materials.

Output:
Pakistan produced about 45 tonnes of uranium in 2006.