GRC Transactions, Vol. 38, 2014

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The Geothermal Energy Potential of Pakistan Clean Sustainable Solution for Our Energy Future

Javed Ahmad

Founder Chairman, Energy Foundation Pakistan javedahmad101@gmail.com

AbSTrACT

Pakistan has large geothermal energy resources available in all the provinces. However no evaluation for its total potential has ever been carried out by any individual or organization. The authors is the pioneer scientist with 48 years experience in oil & gas & mineral sectors who has undertaken a preliminary study of the geothermal resources of Pakistan All the previous work by different authors has been concentrated on the known geothermal springs in Pakistan. Presently no detailed work on geochemistry, geophysical& reservoir evaluation, water flow rate has been car-ried out on the geothermal sites. Based on the author’s work a Base load study of geothermal resources of Pakistan has been planned. The authors main objective is to attract Developers, Equipment suppliers and Consultants from USA and other countries to help Pakistan in the development of geothermal energy resources for power generation, to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels to help its economy and to protect the environment.

Pakistan has a long geological history of geotectonic events, which shows that large geothermal energy resources are avail-able in different parts of the country. The geothermal energy system in Pakistan is controlled by geodynamic or tectonic setup: the fold belts and Plates boundar-ies, (including foreland and sub-basins), inner deep tensional fracture zones at the anticline axis and the boundaries of graben structures, which may be considered as heat controlling features. The Geother-mal fields are usually well developed at the intersection of these heat controlling structural features.

Based on the theory of tectonic plate motion, the important groups of horizontal driving forces in the Pakistan’s geodynamics setup are: The NNE trend-ing compression created by the Indian Plate motion due to sub surface (Upper Mantle) convectional current; the northern

convergence with the Eurasian Block by the Indian Plate. These tectonics activities have brought out the geodynamic system of Pakistan.

The view is further strengthened by the fairly extensive devel-opment of mineral alteration zones and fumaroles in many regions of Pakistan especially in northern Himalayan regain, the presence of a large number of hot springs in different parts of the country, and indications of Quaternary Volcanism in western Baluchistan in Pakistan, These occurrences of geothermal energy are found within three geotectonic or geothermal environments: i) The Geo- Pressurized Systems related to Basin Subsidence, ii) The Seismo-Tectonic or Suture-related Systems, iii) The Neogene-Quaternary Volcanism systems.

Geothermal Energy Zones of Pakistan

Geothermal energy resources of Pakistan are classified on their distribution in specific tectonic zones and also on the basis of thermometry and mode of occurrence such as sedimentary basins distribution. The geothermal energy resources of Pakistan

Figure 1. The seismic boundary of Pakistan has been formed by the interaction of the Arabian, Indian and Eurasian plates. The Indian Tectonic Plate is moving in a northward direction at a rate of about 40 mm/Yr (1.6 inches/year. It collides and is forced beneath the Eurasian Tectonic Plate.

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or their origin in specific Tectonic Zones or Sedimentary Basins could be classified into three zones:

1. The Northern Himalayan Region 2. The Sedimentary Basins of Pakistan 3. The Chagai Volcanic Arc of Baluchistan

1. The Northern Himalayan region

The Northern Himalayan Region is associated with the Global Geothermal Belt. The Main Karakroram Thrust(MKT) extends in the east up to Mynammar and in the west upto Alps. It is high

temperature geothermal area in Pakistan consisting of hot springs, geysers fumaroles. It is the Plate Marginal Zone located along the striking junction (suture zone) of Eurasia extended in the Northern Areas of Pakistan including some parts of Kashmir. The heat sources are mainly active secondary faults and volcanic influence in the shallow part of the Earth’s crust. The earth’s crust near subduction zone is the deeper part of the earth crust whereas the crust of sub Himalaya and lesser Himalaya is shallow part of crust which is highly effected by secondary faults like Main Boundary Thrust MBT, Main Central Thrust MCT, Salt Range Frontal Thrust etc.

The heat source is mainly due to movement of active associ-ated faults.According to Mughal there is a possibility that young

intrusions of granite & grano -diorite which do not reach the surface are still in the process of cooling. However there is no evidence of youger Volcanic activity except of Kamila Amphibolites in Swat area (Loucks etc) of Panjal Volcanism of Permo Carboniferous Ages.

2. The Sedimentary basins of Pakistan

Pakistan’s large Sedimentary Basins are the product of intricate plate interactions involving Indian, Arabian and Eurasian Plates. A large (more than 800km long) transform zone (Bela-Chaman) Separates two major sedimentary Basins, the Indus in the east and Balochistan to the west. A third Basin, the Pishin resides in the Plate margin region and extends northward into Afghanistan where it is known as Katawaz Basin.

Pakistan is characterized by the presence of about 300,000 sq.km of sedimentary area with a sedimentary volume of 1,000,000 cu, m which speaks of potential for large hydrocarbon yields, a variety of petroleum plays including Cambrian, Permian, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Paleocene, Eocene and Miocene.

2.1 The Indus BasinThe Indus Basin is the major sedimentary basin

of Pakistan. The hot sedimentary aquifers are as-sociated with hydrocarbons and also developed as a result of development of secondary faults in the Indus Basin where dozens of geothermal springs have been identified. The Indus Basin has been further subdivided into Upper, Middle & Lower Indus Basin.

2.1.1 Upper Indus BasinThe Upper Indus Basin also known as Northern

Indus Basin is the sedimentary basin which covers the entire Northern area of Punjab Province, and Kohat & Bannu areas of Khyber Pakhtun Khaw (KPK) Province. The sub-basin is filled with thick (upto 7000m) marine and continental fluviatile sediments which range in age from Pre-Cambrian to Pleistocene. Upper Indus Basin has been the leading oil producing area since the first commercial

Figure 2. Seismotectonic Map of Pakistan.

Figure 3. Active Seismic Fault Map of Northern & Western Pakistan. Source: Geological Survey of Pakistan.

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oil discovery in 1915 at Khaur locality. Potwar-Kohat Basin is part of Upper Indus Basin which is famous for hot sedimentary aquifers in Pakistan. The Potwar Basin is the largest geothermal Basin of Pakistan which has many producing oil and gas fields, and there are dozens of wells which are coproducing geothermal hot waters from 80 to 140° C temperatures.

Many dry wells with no hydrocarbon discovery have been capped because of hot water and high pressure in the Basin which are sources of geothermal energy for power generation. The tem-peratures in the dry, abandoned and producing wells have been given in the Table 1.

2.1.2 Middle Indus Basin

The Middle Indus Basin also known as Central Indus Basin has a Fold and Thrust Belt in the west, a Depression in the middle and a Platform area in the east. In this Basin, Jurassic, Cretaceous Paleocene and Eocene hydrocarbons plays have been found pro-ductive. The Fold Belt is characterized by trusted anticlines, the depression has thick sedimentary fill and is a major hydrocarbon kitchen. The Platform is a westward dipping monocline where stratigraphic traps, fault traps, paleo topographic features, salt-produced traps and occasional compressive folds are present. Many geothermal springs and hot water sedimentary aquifers have been located at different sites in the Middle Indus Basin.

The Middle Indus Basin covers the southern part of Punjab Province and small parts of Baluchistan & Sindh Provinces. It contains sedimentary rocks of Pre-Cambrian to Quaternary Ages. The thickness of sedimentary section is maximum in the central depression. Many oil, gas and condensate discoveries have been made in this Sub-Basin and are producing since 1954.

The coproduced and geo pressured geothermal hot waters have been reported at different places The temperature of geothermal waters in dry and producing wells in Middle Indus Basin has been given in Table 2.

2.1.3. Lower Indus Basin

The Lower Indus Basin or Southern Indus Basin is a sedimen-tary basin that is famous for discovery of several oil & gas fields in Pakistan. This zone is north elongated south. The Basin covers the most part of Sind Province & some parts of Baluchistan Prov-ince. The Lower Indus Basin is filled with 5000 to 10000 m thick sedimentary rocks of Mesozoic to Recent Ages. Like Middle Indus sub-basin it also has a Platform area in the east, some troughs and highs, a major depression and a Fold Belt in the west. A number

Table 1. Upper Indus Sedimentary Basin Punjab & KPK Provinces, Pakistan Potwar Geothermal Basin (Temperature in Oil & Gas Drill Holes). Source: Petroleum companies in Pakistan.

S.No DepthTemperature

C°Temperature

F°1 5734 160 c 2 5840 139 c 3 5000 116 c 4 4618 222 F5 4900 292 F6 5319 291 F7 4739 130 c 8 4517 232 F9 5367 292 F10 3950 215 F11 5175 257 F12 4792 267 F 13 5119 142 c 14 5300 284 F15 3950 212 F16 4784 114 c17 4601 114 c18 3711 99 c 19 4940 136 c 20 4814 265 F 21 4223 252F

Table 2. Middle Indus Basin Punjab (South) Province Pakistan (Tempera-ture in Oil & Gas Drill Holes). Source: Petroleum companies in Pakistan.

S.no DepthTemperature

C°Temperature

F°1 2226 105 c2 3601 116 c3 4406 125c4 4581 257 F785 4456 93 c6 2020 182 F7 1062 65 c8 2100 60 c 9 1646 74 c 10 1645 79 c11 1590 167 F

Table 3. Lower Indus Basin Sindh Province Pakistan, Badin Sanghar Geothermal Rift Basin (Temperature in Oil & Gas Drill Holes). Source: Petroleum companies in Pakistan.

S.No DepthTemperature

C°Temperature

F°1 3325 202 F2 3287 265 F3 3078 208 F4 3109 204 F5 3814 228 F6 2350 195 F7 1992 210 F8 3017 205 F9 3141 241 F10 3101 250 F11 2590 223 F12 3276 250 F13 3132 210 F14 2631 225 F15 2570 220 F16 2294 217F17 2368.7 214F18 2133.5 210F19 2280 104 c20 4517 150 c

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of oil & gas discoveries have been made in this sub-basin in the Cretaceous, Paleocene and Eocene plays. ( Kazmi etl )

The Coproduced and Geo pressured hot waters are associated with hydrocarbons production. Thousands of barrels of hot water are daily re- injected in the wells or drained in the tributaries. The Sanghar-Badin Rift Basin ( Javed ) is providing maximum hydrocarbons and hot water at more than 110°C.

The oil and gas fields located in the upper part of Lower Indus Basin are producing hot waters from 110 to more than 150°C temperatures also designated as Upper Sindh Geothermal Basin. (Javed) The temperatures of hot water in the abandoned & producing oil & gas wells in Upper Sindh Geothermal Basin have been shown in Table 4.

2.2 Balochistan Basin

Baluchistan Basin is located in the subduction zone where oce-anic slab of the Arabian plate has subducted beneath the Eurasian plate. It is mainly a basin formed of thick Tertiary and Quaternary clastic sediments with some carbonate rocks of Cretaceous, Pal-aeocene and Eocene Ages in the northern part of the Basin. Very little exploration has been carried out for hydrocarbons evaluation in this basin. The large offshore area along with Coastal Belt is particularly prospective for hydrocarbon discoveries. There are a number of mud volcanoes in the Makran Coastal area where geothermal springs and fumaroles are present, flowing with hy-drothermal fluids at some localities. No effect has ever been made to survey the Mud volcanoes or geothermal sites of Baluchistan Basin including Makran Coastal Areas.

2.3 Pishin BasinPishin sedimentary Basin is located in the northeastern part

of Baluchistan Province and extends into Afghanistan where it is known as Katawaz Basin. The Pishin Basin is bounded by two major faults: Chaman Transform Fault in the northwest and Zhob Valley Thrust in the east. There are other thrust faults and high angle reverse faults in the Basin. The occurrence of thermally mature hydrocarbons have been confirmed in the Pishin Basin. There are many oil & gas seeps in the Basin. A series of Mud volcanoes are located in the north of Killa Saifullah Town. Geo-thermal springs have been located in Killa Saifullah and Zhob Districts within the Pishin Basin, where hot geothermal fluids are flowing at some locations. (Javed)

3. The Chagai Volcanic Arc, baluchistan Province

The Chagai Volcanic Arc located in Chagai District of Balu-chistan is associated with the nearest active magmatic activity and several dormant volcanoes. Koh-i-Sultan dormant volcano is a major source of geothermal water in the Chagai District. There are many geothermal springs for example in the cheken Dik area north of Nokhundi town and fumaroles observed in this Arc in the northwest of Baluchistan Basin. The heat sources are mainly from volcanic influence in the shallow part of the Earth’s crust. The temperatures of geothermal waters from the Koh-i-Sultan dormant volcano have been recorded from 120 to 150°C.

Preliminary resource Estimates of Geothermal Energy

The geothermal energy resource potential of Pakistan has been preliminary estimated as under Table 5.

i. Co-Produced and Geo-Pressured Geothermal Resources

The hot waters associated with oil and gas producing fields also known as co-produced and geo-pressured geothermal fluids are available in large quantities in most of the oil and gas fields in Pakistan. The temperature of hot water has been documented from

Table 4. Lower Indus Basin Sindh Province Pakistan, Upper Sindh Geothermal Basin (Temperature in Oil & Gas Drill Holes). Source: Petroleum companies in Pakistan.

S.No DepthTemperature

C°Temperature

F°1 1679 143 F2 1930 180 F3 1470 168 F4 1113 124 F5 1830 188 F6 1584 170 F7 1615 176 F8 2057 198 F9 1168 54 F10 1198 132 F11 1189 130 F12 1204 139 F13 980 54 c14 2025 74 c15 911 128 F16 2088 180 F17 1712 75 c18 4100 320 F19 2956 222 F20 2848 109 c21 3500 126 c22 2743 225 F23 3050 240 F

Table 5. Preliminary Estimates of Geothermal Energy Resources of Pakistan.

Geothermal Energy resources

Proposed Developable resourcesPreliminary Estimated resources

2020 2030 2040 2050

(MWe) (MWe) MWe (MWe) (MWe)

Co-Produced & Geo Pressured 40,000 10,000 15,000 10000 10,000

Hydrothermal 30,000 2,000 5,000 5,000 5000

Deep Geothermal 30,000 2,000 3,000 5,000 10,000

Thermal Uses (MWt) (MWt) (MWt) (MWt) (MWt)

Shallow Geothermal For space air- conditioning & hot water

60000 5000 5000 10000 1000

Direct Use 30000 3000 5,000 5000 5000

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80c to more than 150c. as given the tables 1,2,3,&4. It is prelimi-nary estimated based on the hundreds of abandoned, depleted, & producing oil & gas wells, located in the Indus Basin that more than 40,000 MW of electricity and heat could be produced from these co-produced and geo-pressured geothermal resources at a low cost as compared to fossil fuels in all the provinces. The initial investigations show that Punjab and Sindh Provinces have the maximum potential of co-produced and geo-pressured geothermal energy resources, available in Potwar Geothermal Basin, Badin Sanghar Rift-Basin & Upper Indus Geothermal Basin.

Since 1866 total number of 841exploratory wells have been drilled in Pakistan. More than 500 well were dry or with no com-mercial discovery. The author has evaluated the temperature data and found that 300 wells could produce geothermal energy having more than 105°C for power generation in Pakistan. Moreover 1164 wells have been drilled for appraisal and development. Many of these oil & gas appraisal wells were dry and or now depleted and are good source of geothermal energy for power generation. How-ever detailed investigations are required to evaluate the potential of each well for power generation.

ii. Hydrothermal Energy ResourcesHot water or steam springs, geysers or fumaroles are type of

hydrothermal energy resources which are continuously flowing in many areas of Pakistan. The Northern Areas of Pakistan includ-ing Chitral, Giglit, Baltistan, and Kashmir are famous for such type of geothermal energy resources with temperatures ranging from 80c to more than 180 ºC. The geothermal energy resources may exceed 30,000 MW of electricity and heat in the Northern Areas of Gilgit Baltistan, Chitral, and Azad Kashmir. There are many hot water springs in Punjab, KPK, Baluchistan and Sind Provinces which are a source of geothermal energy. (Photo Graph A) showing hot steam and water at 140°C flowing all the year in Astor valley in Giglit Baltistan.

iii. Deep Geothermal Resources/ Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS)

The geological and tectonic features and the active seismic zones and the abandoned deep dry oil & gas wells with high temperature show that deep geothermal energy resources are

available at different parts of the country which could be developed through Enhanced geothermal Technologies. These resources are preliminary estimated at more than 30,000 MW of electricity.

iv. Shallow Geothermal Energy ResourcesShallow geothermal energy resources which are source of

solar energy are available from 10 feet to 500 feet depth and are used for cooling & heating of buildings and supply of hot water. Pakistan has sunshine all over the country, therefore, the shallow geothermal energy resources may be roughly estimated at more than 60,000 MW equivalent of electricity and heat available in all the provinces.

v. Geothermal Energy Resources for Direct-UseThe Northern Areas of Pakistan including Khyber Pakhtun

Khaw (KPK), Giglit, Baltistan, and Azad Kashmir are famous for low temperature hot waters springs. Moreover the low temperature springs and water aquifers are also available in Punjab, Sindh and Baluchistan provinces. All these low temperature water springs & aquifers can be used for direct use applications.

The direct use geothermal energy resources are estimated at more than 30,000 MW of heat and electricity in all the province of Pakistan.

Geothermal Energy Potential for Power Generation.Pakistan is producing more than 80% electricity using fossil

fuels like furnace oil, diesel oil, natural gas and gasoline. About 15% electricity is produced from hydropower, nuclear and wind resources. Pakistan’s economy is highly dependent on imported fossil fuels and the average import bill is more than 15 Billion USD per annum.

Geothermal energy resource available in all the province of Pakistan could be used for power generation, heating & cooling of buildings, supply of hot water, direct use applications which will reduce its dependence on imported fossil fuels.

Presently the co-produced hot waters from the oil & gas wells are being drained out in dry streams, or re-injected in the wells or evaporated after heating using natural gas. Keeping in view the coproduced, geo pressured, hydro thermal and deep geothermal en-ergy resources available all over Pakistan the preliminary potential

Photograph A. Geothermal fumaroles, Geysers Hot water and Steam Springs with more than 140°C temperature. Flowing all the year in the Northern Himlayan Valleys Pakistan.

Photograph b. Abandoned Oil Exploratory Well Near Islamabad Capital Geothermal Water flowing with Artisan Pressure @ 5000 Barrel/Day with +100°C Temp, since 1980 from sedimentary Acquire at 1500 Meter Depth. Location 33 04' 44 N 72 56' 50'E.

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for power generation has been estimated at about 100,000. MW (Photo Graph- B). Geothermal water flowing at 5000 Barrels per day at 105°C being drained tributary.

Note: i) Present geothermal energy consumption for Power Genera-

tion is Nil. ii) Three Geothermal Heat Pumps have been installed for

demonstration purpose at different locations in Pakistan by Energy Foundation, Pakistan.

iii) The developable geothermal resources have been estimated keeping in view the different sectoral requirements.

references 4. Abu-Bakar, M. 1965.Thermal Springs of Pakistan. Geological Survey

of Pakistan, Records, Vol. No. XVI, part 3,.5. Farah, A. and Dejong, K. A,. 1979. Geodynamics of Pakistan. Geo-

logical Survey of Pakistan, Quetta..6. Kazmi & Jan 1997. Geology and Tectonics of Pakistan, 1st edition.7. Bruce D. Green & R. Gerald Nix, National Renewable Laboratory

US D.O.E., Geothermal Resources Estimates for United State. 8. Mughal, Muhammad Naseer, Geological Survey of Pakistan,1998,

Geothermal Resources of Pakistan and Methods for Early Stage Exploration.

9. Robert, R Loucks, M. Ashraf, M. Awan, D.G.Miller 1992, Sub divi-sion of the Kambila