Work on Shale gas exploration urged

LAHORE: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has urged the government to speedup work on exploration of Shale gas deposits, as it would not only help resolve the issue of energy shortages, but would also reduce oil import bill, which is one of the biggest reasons of trade deficit, a statement said on Tuesday.

LCCI President Sheikh Muhammad Arshad and other office-bearers said that in the United States, Shale gas is rapidly increasing as an available source of natural gas and reducing their dependence on energy import.

They said that approval of the Shale Gas Policy Framework from the Cabinet in 2013 was a major initiative towards revival of industry and the business community was optimistic that the government will chalk out a timeframe for early completion of this pilot project and will not let it fall prey to bureaucratic hurdles, but no major progress has yet been witnessed.

Since long, the LCCI had been pressing the government to tap other energy resources instead of depending on conventional gas reserves that had been depleting fast.

They said that the Shale gas exploration is highly capital intensive and requires high level of technological expertise, private sector representatives should also be included in the project committee formed by the federal cabinet for its execution at the earliest.