ADB Advises Pakistan to Study Impact of Shale Gas

Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said that Pakistan first needed to realise adverse implications of water-intensive shale gas extraction policy on the agriculture sector and expensive Thar coal on the economy.

The comments made by the visiting ADB’s Regional Director on Energy, Rune Stroem on Wednesday highlighted critical flaws in the decision-making, The Express Tribune newspaper said. Pakistan last week approved the shale gas policy.

It was Pakistan’s choice when it came to choosing between water allocations to shale gas versus the agriculture sector and using cost-efficient cheaper imported coal against what he claimed was more expensive coal from Thar that was not environment-friendly, Stroem said.

Stroem further added that shale gas extraction required large amount of water and water reserves of Pakistan were not accounted for before approval of the policy. “Being a water-scarce country, Pakistan should employ water-efficient technology as shale gas water requirements are part of the overall equation,” he was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

A shale gas explorer hired to extract the resource may pay the price of water, but the question was can a farmer afford to pay when water gets scarce. He hoped that a water sector report approved by the cabinet last week will also help trigger a wider debate over the value of water and its efficient usage.